Time Travel

There was a boy
who built a time machine
it was spiffy and shiny
as he surveyed his work
he felt so proud
and smiled in absolute glee

all that was left was
to test it
and with a triumphant cry
the boy pushed the button
and declared
"i really hope i don't die!"

through the timestream
he shot smoothly
as the years went rushing by
out of the wormhole
he landed on his back
facing the midnight sky

he stood up and
dusted himself down
and lo, what did he see?
there on the grass
below him was
a butterfly moving weakly

he thought nothing of it
and proceeded to go
on a little adventure of his own
but before he knew it
his time machine rang
oh, how time had flown

it was time to return
back to his time
and as he stepped into the machine
he couldnt help but notice
the little butterfly's wings
were an odd silvery sheen

he thought nothing of it
and away he went
back to from whence he came
but when he stepped
out into his time
nothing was ever again the same

before him was
a large expanse
of ruin, as far as he could see
he sank to his knees
in shock and despair
how on earth could this be?

he then remembered the butterfly
and something else
called the butterfly effect
he killed a butterfly
when he went back in time
and now the timestream was wrecked

the past came back
to bite him so
horribly hard in his rear
the butterfly effect
wasn't just a theory
and then it all became clear

although he didnt know it
it was his fault
he brought doom upon the world
that butterfly
was responsible
for the first few flowers that unfurled

since the butterfly died
the flowers
no longer came to be
and a massive
chain reaction
which destroyed nature utterly

his eyes widened
as he realized
his biggest, penultimate fear
it was not a ghost
nor a demon
it was dying alone here

and as he sank
to his knees once more
he let out a mournful cry
"please, someone, help!
I don't wanna be
left here to die."

and he felt a hand shake him
and he awoke
it was all but a terrible dream
his mother assured
him it was so
and it was.. or so it would seem.

as she left the room
he opened his clenched hand
his heart stopped and he thought he would die
for in his sweaty palm
there lay unmoving

a silver-winged

crushed

butterfly.