I am not yet complete

I am not yet complete
I am a caterpillar
A very hungry caterpillar.
In this cocoon for a time

I must learn
Which leaves are good for sustenance
And which will slowly kill me

One glorious day
I will be released
To be the butterfly
I was created to be

But that day is not this one

I am a fish
caught by the fisher of men

I have been released
Not into a bowl
To live a life of comfort and confinement
But into the ocean
To live freely
Swimming among the sharks
Who would love to devour me

I have been slow to learn of the cruel fishermen
That would leave me to drown in their nets
That would feast on my carcass,
and throw away my remains

I am not the prize catch
After their hunger is satisfied
They will, and do,
Move on to their next

I understand this now.

I am dust
I will be blown away with the wind
When the life breathed into me
Is taken from me
Returned to its giver
I will return to the earth
from which I came

I am only one part
Not unlike the millions of others
I am barely a even a factor in the equation

I am almost nothing...
   ...and yet I exist

My thoughts and words mean little, to most
But they are all I have in defining who I am
And if, in the quest for understanding I Am
I can not be honest

Well then...
I can not truly BE anything worth being at all