a brisk walk past a fat neighbor on a winter day

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.