As part of Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday challenge we were asked to take a quiz to discover our spirit animal. Mine turned out to be a butterfly which is quite striking given that yesterday I was walking by a pathway I often take in Tavira, Portugal.
There, I was struck by the sight of a beautiful butterfly with vibrant markings on its bright wings. It made me stop in my tracks! That’s no surprise as my life is going through much change at the moment – seems so appropriate!
What It Means To Be The Butterfly (From Quiz)
The butterfly is one of the most emblematic totem animals symbolizing personal transformation. If you see the butterfly as your totem or spirit animal, pay attention to the areas in your life or personality that are in need of profound change or transformation. Perhaps, this animal totem guides you to be sensitive to your personal cycles of expansion and growth, as well as the beauty of life’s continuous unfolding. An important message carried by the spirit of the butterfly is about the ability to go through important changes with grace and lightness.
Shadorma
The Shadorma consists of a six-line stanza (or sestet). Each stanza is written as 3-5-3-3-7-5 for a total of 26 syllables with no set rhyme scheme. When writing a Shadorma, I would concentrate on a specific subject.
Butterfly Hello
Butterfly
Pause, to say hello
Darling soul
Bring me joy
Welcoming my steps forward
I feel your love here
Butterfly Cinquain
Butterfly cinquain is a nine-line syllabic titled form with the pattern 2-4-6-8-2-8-6-4-2.
Beauty
Flutter to me
You land so light and free
Was it circumstance that we met?
Or fate?
To follow is to discover
My enriched path to take
Gentle totem
Bright wings
The cinquain is a five-line, non-rhyming poem featuring a syllable structure of 2-4-6-8-2. Cinquain poems need a title. Choose words that create drama that builds into the fourth line. The turn occurs on line five, the most important line. This is where you change your focus away from the drama in some interesting way.
This Changing Life
Sweet wings
Flutter and land
Alighting on a leaf
Embracing change with your counsel
This life
Some photos of lovely Tavira… such tranquillity.
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/M-J-Mallon/e/B074CGNK4L/
M J Mallon YA Author and Poet 
Post packed with poetic and photographic beauty!
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Thank you so much Annette. It was fun! And such a great idea to find our spirit animal. Think last tme I was a dragonfly! Lol.
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Beautiful words and beautiful photos 💜
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Thank you Willow. I enjoyed this. Ad hope I see more butterflies. I think that was a lovely chance sighting!
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Yes indeed 💜
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Beautiful poems and photos. I love you ran into a butterfly right before this! Xo
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Yes it was perfect timing! Thanks Denise. 😀
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What a lovely poetic tribute to the butterfly, Marje. I love your photos too!! 🦋
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Many thanks Colleen. My only regret is I didn’t photograph the butterfly but they are difficult to capture.
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Hi Marje, what fun that you are also a butterfly. I also wrote a Shadorma, two in fact. All your poems are beautiful descriptions of your encounter with a butterfly.
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Hi Robbie many thanks. It was a sweet encounter! Your poems are lovely too. 😍
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I love all your poems, Marje! You really captured the butterfly beautifully! And those pictures are awesome!
Yvette M Calleiro 🙂
http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com
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Many thanks Yvette. It was fun! And thank you regarding the photos. 😀
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Whenever butterflies land nearby it feels like a blessing. You’ve done a great job through your poems in showing butterfly blessings.
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Aww thank you. How kind. 😀
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So much beauty pact in one post.
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Thank you Brenda. It’s lovely to share it with you!
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What a lovely spirit animal, Marje. I love our endless process of transformation and all the possibilities it entails. Your poems as beautiful, as are your photos. I adore those blue skies and blue waters! ❤
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Hi Diana. Many thanks for your kind words. Yes the blue skies and blue waters are beautiful. And a butterfly is such a lovely spirit animal. 😀
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You may not have captured the butterfly in a photograph, but you certainly have captured its beauty in your poetry! Well done! Great photos, too.
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Thank you. Yes I wish I had. One day perhaps. 😀
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Well done, Marje – and love those photos x
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Many thanks Toni. x
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