The Monarch is majestic, mystical and made
To make unique connections in the planet and the glade.
Its eggs so very numerous in humble weeds are laid…
‘Til stripey caterpillars some days later are displayed.
The milkweed is its home and food: a random farmyard plant
Should not be that important, and yet the Monarch can’t
Survive on any other…..and if milkweed disappears,
There won’t be any Monarchs….that’s forever, not just years.
So, we go from eggs to larva, and from there to Chrysalis,
The short-lived lovely Monarch is the briefest “King” there is:
He’s the first generation, then the cycle will renew
Until a few weeks later, there comes generation two.
History repeats itself in generation three;
But what comes next is one of Nature’s greatest mysteries.
Generation number four outlives those that precede,
For time to travel long and far is its predestined need.
Elemental power transcending time and space
Guides the fragile little monarch to its migration place…
From northern climes and Maritimes and down to Mexico:
What is it that compels the tiny juggernaut to go?
There it hibernates and lives for months instead of weeks;
Then once again some mystic whisperer must speak…
Because, without exception, all the Monarchs rise as one….
Air currents ring as waving wings take all the Monarchs home.
And the cycle starts again……..