Sunday 30 August 2020

The Social Butterfly

No hawk moth, I'm a butterfly
In morning dew I love to fly
And check out flowers' sweet perfume
Their gentle petals make me swoon.

All shapes and sizes, tall and short
Each unique and finely wrought
All have their own enticing grace
A home-from-home with shining face.

Bees and wasps compete with me
But where else would I wish to be?
On summer days in gentle breeze
I hover under leafy trees...

Ants and insects far below
Put on an acrobatic show
By crawling up those tender stems
To reach the flowers, nature's gems.

My life, alas, is poignant, brief
Birds may swoop down on a leaf
Where I've paused with spread-out wings
To meditate on higher things.

Attracting predators is worse
My fragile beauty is a curse
For I must do before I die
Under summer's waning sky...

(c) Poet in the woods 2020



The graceful mating of two Monarch butterflies ...

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