A brisk walk past a fat neighbor on a winter day

a brisk walk past a fat neighbor on a winter day

draft 3.

Today, I am thinking of a million butterflies
dead in giant piles of muted yellow, black
and once-orange, as if summer will never return

there must be a word for such delicate
carnage, but all I know is color, sunlight
and cold. if my ears were stronger

the sound of the wind through bare branches
and thin needles would be heard over the muffle,
a chorus of life, but here in a racket of nothing

these images of summer's embers dance before
every thought. This cemetery has no headstones,
no epitaphs for warm days. This holy ground

is sanctified by only me, and the footprints
of snow atop the mottled taupes of leaves of grass
and the beige of my missed opportunities.

Josie -
What beautiul images you've conjured, esp. in the first line. I also like "If my ears were stronger..." The only suggestion I have is in the second stanza, where you say "there must be a story for so much...". Somehow the word "story" doesn't seem right. Perhaps "word" or "name?" There are stories about this kind of carnage, but nobody to my knowledge has ever assigned a single word to it.

Anstey -
That's a very interesting idea! Thank you Josie.

Aphasic -

Brilliant opening Stephan, waking the 'dead' on L2, after giving life to the butterflies in the first line.
I tend to agree with Josie on the 'story' thing - purpose to, meaning behind, legend of? and I'd also use 'such' rather than 'so much' (carnage tends to imply scale anyway).
"the images of summers embers" - that doesn't sound/read right, it should be either "summers' embers" (possesive plural with apostrophe), "summer's embers" (the embers of this particular summer) or just summer embers (summer in general, as these images are common to all summers)
Perhaps a comma after "no headstones" (as you're using [inconsistent] punctuation throughout)

"is sanctified only by me" reads awkwardly - perhaps "is sanctified by me alone" would sound better?
What are 'footprints of snow'? Snow itself doesn't leave footprints, so maybe "footprints in snow" would be better, although 'in' and 'atop' might be a problem...not sure about that.
I looked up 'taupe(s)', but couldn't find anything - what are 'taupes'?

"beige of missed opportunities" is a wonderful application of colour...great start, and finish, and the whole thing is seasonally redolent and full of strategic contrasts and contradictions...wistfully atmospheric.

Anstey -
I will only quibble with the footprints of snow. As snow melts, it can, and often does leave oddly shaped 'prints' where shade or drifting leave some parts unmelted. It does look like footprints.

Anstey -
Thank you both so much. I made some changes. I'll ponder more as I think about this.

Aphasic -

Ok - yes, I agree, a melt can give the impression of imprints, though not necessarily 'foot' prints - that's not important, 'footprints' is fine if that was your impression, or the impression you intended to make. I read this -
"This holy ground

is sanctified by only me, and the footprints
of snow..."
and assumed that they were associated with you (your steps) in some way. So for me, ambiguous, but now you've explained, I can see the intention. I'm a bit pedantic that way :>

*footnote* So, I've read it over again - now I can see it's you and the footprints...I do so much 'reading into' that I forget how to just read :>