One night, standing by my dirty black outdoor trashcan, I was in pain from my trafficking trauma and I asked my god to comfort me. I asked him for big comfort. I asked him to appear to me physically. “Show me yourself,” I said, “in a way I can see with my eyes.”
I walked back to the house and a white butterfly—in a spot I had never seen butterflies—crossed my path from the weedy yellow lawn to the scraggly red tea rose bushes. The ancient symbol for the soul is a butterfly. I saw the white-winged soul of my god.
It could have been a moth. The French word for moth is “papillon de nuit”—butterfly of night. My god’s white-winged soul is both a moth and a butterfly of night. We trafficking survivors are like that too. The world sees moths—infestation—something to be swatted away and exterminated. Our pimps see moths—un-beautiful, unworthy of respect. We often see ourselves as the world and our pimps see us. We see moths—the worst kind of un-beautiful, unworthy of love, care, compassion—respect and self-respect.
But we are butterflies. We are butterflies of night—deepest night. We are Midnight Butterflies.
I heard once that if you touch a butterfly’s wings, it won’t be able to fly. I don’t know if that’s true, but I do know it doesn’t have to be true for us. Our wings have been touched and touched, thousands of times by the dirtiest hands. Sometimes, those dirty hands have tried to pull our delicate wings away completely. And yet we can still fly. We have to believe we can.
I believe we can. Can you believe it too?
My intention for this site is to create a safe space for survivors of human trafficking to share their creative work—writing, poetry, art, photography, music, film, and anything else. I want us to honor each other’s creative flights and to showcase our bright wings to the world. I want to raise awareness about the horrors of human trafficking and the worthiness of those both out of and currently in the life.
The art need not necessarily be about trafficking directly. I want us to raise each other up in all our creative endeavors and to show people our brilliance and resilience in both the trafficking world and the world at large. We are multifaceted. Our wings bear many jewels and we are all unique. Let us spread our wings here together.
If you have creative work you would like to have featured on this site, please contact me at MidnightButterfliesorg@gmail.com. You may remain anonymous if you wish. Please also feel free to email me if there is work you would like to share, but perhaps not have featured on the site, or if there is any other way I can help. I’m here for us to be here for each other.
In Love, Creativity, and Service,
-Michelle A.
Midnight Butterflies 