According Emily Dickinson,
Fame is a bee;
It has a song,
It has a sting,
Ah, too, it has a wing!
Love, on the other hand, if one is to believe Dolly Parton, is rather different:
Love is like a butterfly
As soft and gentle as a sigh
The multicoloured moods of love are like its satin wings.
However, with our climate to contend with, survival is by no means easy for either butterflies or love.
Let's first consider butterflies. A butterfly is a very fragile entity, whose viability is much dependent on the weather. In particular it has a constant need for uninterrupted sunshine, which it needs for mobility.
Being cold-blooded creatures, butterflies need the external heat provided by the sun to fuel the muscles used to flap the wings and fly. In cloudy conditions, the insect, like a kind of solar-powered aircraft, is almost helpless.
It is because of this external heat requirement that we see no butterflies in the very early morning. It takes some time for heat from the rising sun to provide the energy required for flight.
Even during the day, at the slightest hint of cloudiness, the butterfly stops work immediately and hangs suspended from a leaf or flower; only when the sun has once again appeared do the flying muscles limber up and the hunt for food resumes.
In its behaviour, too, the insect keeps its fuel requirements to the fore and does its best to ensure a constant supply of solar energy.
When flying towards a bridge, for example, butterflies can be observed to shy away from the dark shadows underneath and to take the long way around - flying up and over in the sunshine. This total dependence on the sun makes the butterfly exclusively a daytime creature, unlike its cousin, the moth, who is predominantly nocturnal.
Rain compounds the troubles started by a layer of cloud, especially if accompanied by wind. Older butterflies particularly, whose wing-scales and bodyhairs are not in prime condition, quickly become battered and bedraggled in a spell of heavy rain and so become an easy prey for predators.
If a longish spell of wet and windy weather happens to coincide with the period during which a short-lived species should be in the air, severe depletion of the population may take place, with subsequent recovery often taking several years.
And as regards love, well:
Love makes your heart feel strange inside
It flutters like soft wings in flight
Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing.