i saw a butterfly swimming

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i was surprised to see a butterfly swimming in the rainwater we collect to water the plants. i got a stick so it can hold on to it, then moved the butterfly to the plant next to the big red bucket. it's yellow and black with a red spot on the lower wings. but even while it was splashing in the rainwater, i immediately noticed that the right wing was smaller. as the butterfly clung to the pandan leaf, wings flapping gently, i see that the right lower wing (or hind wing) was twisted. the butterfly was there for a very long time, just moving to different plants, not caring when i passed by or bent to watch it. when i finally tried to shoo it away to see if it can fly properly, it did, but settled on the tall palm in front of the house. it would probably have a much harder time if one of its upper wings or forewings was damaged. a woman in texas actually helped repair a monarch butterfly's wings because it was born with a wing defect - both upper and lower wings were torn. Romy McCloskey is a costume designer and she used "scissors, tweezers, talc, contact cement, toothpick, a bent hanger" and wings from another butterfly. (i attached the link to the news story at the bottom of this post.) before her mother died 20 years ago, Romy said her mother told her, "Romy, Whenever you see a butterfly, know that I'm there with you, and that I love you.” of course, as i was thinking how to write this, i remembered the old song, Broken Wings, by Mr. Mister back in 1985. "So take these broken wings, and learn to fly again, learn to live so free." i found out that the title of the song came from the book "The Broken Wings" by Kahlil Gibran.