lying with my head in her lap , i was looking straight up at the yew tree , and the leaves were fluttering in the wind you could n't feel , and i noticed something funny about them : the leaves of the tree were multicolored , red and black and white , and then i saw the branches were bare and it was n't leaves fluttering at all , but the wings of thousands of butterflies beating uselessly in the air , because each butterfly was pinned to the branch by a long silver needle .