The Monarch Butterfly

From underneath the leaf of a milkweed plant,

A new life is born, at first so scant.

Its egg is no larger than the head of a pin.

What a huge world for a tiny life to begin.

The larva sheds its skin 5 times as it grows.

Just why all these stages, only heaven knows.

The caterpillar will then cease to eat.

For the final metamorphosis cannot be beat.

It weaves a mat of silk, it’s super.

It sheds the last skin, to reveal the pupa.

In 5 weeks the egg grows to 2700 times its weight.

Then soars right off to propagate.

They’ll not come until spring, or when the Earth starts to warm.

They usually fly alone though at times seem to swarm.

The white, black, and yellow

Distinguishes this lady or fellow.

Their colors are intensely, bright and bold.

Their fragile flight is one to behold.

When the days grow shorter they start drifting away

Back to old Mexico, The Sierra Madre.

At nine thousand feet thousands can be found,

Waiting for spring to come back around.

Some fly from Canada and farther away.

So how in the world does each know the way?

They cling to the grand Oyamel trees,

When temperatures drop and maybe freeze.

But there’s no need to fret or have a concern.

This just slows them down so their fat doesn’t burn.

They’ll need it when a new cycle begins next spring.

Our Mother Nature doesn’t forget a thing.

This is truly the most remarkable butterfly,

The most beautiful and courageous that will ever flutter by.

Thousands of butterflies, over thousands of miles,

Through thousands of perils, create thousands of smiles.

Doesn’t thousands of miles of winged migration,

Across our vast and beautiful nation,

Add sensation, elation, increased motivation,

And determination for the procreation, of a new generation?

Amazingly the Monarch travels so far

Just to be flattened, on the windshield of my car.

And just how is a person expected to feel,

When a Monarch gets shredded in my bicycle wheel?