Observing the Monarch Migration from a Midwestern Meadow
by Jeannie E. Roberts

(Danaus plexippus)

Drenched in sunlight
you glide over herbs and grasses
the remnants of summer
its amber ripple.

Your instincts heed
the signs of departure
where a swell of farewells swirl
above the ebb of nectar
the decline of chlorophyll.

Like a comber of copper
autumn's arrival prompts
the flutter of wings
the passage southward.

Lepidoptera
may safety brighten your way
where vigor persists
and nutrients thrive
where roosts bestow rest
for the rabble.

Drenched in sunlight
you glide over herbs and grasses
exit this October meadow
its amber ripple.

Wanderer
common tiger
black-veined brown
Vaya con Dios.



 

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