Sunset gold
alights on a flower.
She flaps once
then opens
in soft triangle
symmetry.
I know how brief
this rest is –
does she?
Startled,
she folds
into the air
in paper-thin
endangered
flight.
Once she is gone
I will see her again
in sunset’s gold
but our children –
they will never
imagine
such fire
on a wing.
I wrote this inspired by the Monarch Butterfly, a species under threat due to climate change, pesticides and logging of wintering grounds.
Many species are heading for extinction today and I wanted to capture the unique beauty of what may be lost from our world.
Inky Cat's Poems 