Madame Butterfly

Through atmospherics I hear you die again.

Death is white as your lover's uniform, as snow

When it covers the whiteness of almond petals.

Worse weather blows your papery house away.

Now I listen for the snow bunting's arrival,

A flute-note from crevices and rocky scree.

Michael Longley, Gorse Fires, Cape Poetry, 2009.