Ae Fond Kiss

Ae fond kiss, and then we sever;
Ae fareweel, and then forever!
Deep in heart-wrung tears   I'll pledge thee,
Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee.
Who shall say that Fortune grieves him,
While the star of hope she leaves him?
Me, nae cheerfu' twinkle lights me;
Dark despair around benights me.
(Robert Burns)

Well, perhaps not. Butterflies do 'sever' shortly after mating but then they go their separate ways without a backward glance, the male to disseminate his genetic material as often as possible, the female to deposit, or just sprinkle, her fertilized eggs on the appropriate food plant for the larvae when they hatch. In the case of these Meadow Browns it will be a variety of grasses.

Meadow Brown seems a  dull name for these common but attractively coloured 'flies. The female is the brighter of the two. (Her eye-catching beauty spot can be covered by her underwing if she prefers to look less conspicuous.)

The male emits an attractant odour. Without wanting to sound sexist it does seem reminiscent of certain human  males, perhaps of the older generation?

"Courtship in the Meadow Brown begins with the male finding a potential mate and then enveloping her in an entrancing scent. While this scent may be entrancing for the female, most human observers (some people are more sensitive to the scent than others) would describe it as smelling like old socks or a discarded cigar. "