'out of our past into now' is a line I like, Max. Also despite sadness, signs of fluttery acceptance. Gwenda would be touched, I'm sure, had she not flown tne coop or wherever butteflies naturally reside.
Bill
On 12/12/2012, at 10:07 AM, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Good Year for Monarchs
>
> - butterflies, that is -
> those with crowned heads? -
> not sure their year is much good.
>
> These butterflies,
> holding all eyes,
> generating smiles -
>
> nifty flying, lightly
> alighting, brightly
> lit against verdure -
>
> but can I be sure
> that beyond this park
> and nearby river bank
>
> wide-winged Monarchs flourish
> as they so do here today?
> Locally, then, their December
>
> is bright. She could tell me,
> my sister, once 'Butterfly queen
> of West Auckland', their habits,
>
> their diet (swan-plant, as I recall),
> their prospects, short-term
> as individuals, long-term
>
> as a thriving species -
> which survives partly by tasting
> nasty to predators.
>
> But Gwenda succumbed
> to the Great Predator
> a few butterfly seasons back,
>
> leaving me guessing
> and grieving, and touched
> when the Monarchs flutter
>
> out of our past into now.
> Haven't we all heard tell
> the Greek word psyche
> means both butterfly and soul?
>
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