MONARCH BUTTERFLY POEM

​Monarchs are here
it's that time of the year
when they flutter right into our lives

With their wings orange-red
there's a lot to be said
for their spendidness brightening the skies.

Caterpillars in stripes
are incorrigible types
eating everything up in their way

First their egg shell gets chomped
Then the milkweed is swamped
and they increase in size every day

By instar number five
they are ready to thrive
as a chrysalis of bright yellow green

So they twist like Houdini
slipping out of their stripes
transformation is now on its way

After fourteen long days
it is time to emerge
first they blacken, then orange shows through

With one giant effort 
the chrysalis is slipped
and they hang while their wings pump out too

When all systems are go
they put on quite a show
as they turn their wings into the sun

Then they quietly lift
and they glide and they shift
so their butterfly life has begun


Poem by Julie Simpson 2016
© Julie's Butterflies 2016

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