The Monarchs are Endangered

 I read online that the western monarch butterflies are at risk of extinction. The following snippet was posted on Google two days ago: "Its population has dropped by an estimated 99.9 percent over the past 40 years, from ten million in the 1980s to 1,914 in 2021. Experts are concerned that not enough butterflies remain to keep the population alive."

I wrote the following poem in the early 1990s...

Image credit: wired.com

 There Used To Be Butterflies in New Jersey

 

I remember the day the monarchs held court on Cupsaw Beach

And filled the air with tangerine profusion

As they soared and danced with natural choreography.

 

There used to be butterflies in New Jersey.

They haven’t left completely,

But I see fewer every year

And miss their lilting frivolity, color, and grace.

 

Today, I strolled a lane in South Carolina,

And was gifted with more species than I know,

The sum greater than I’ve seen in years.

Praise God, they simply filled my heart with joy

As they danced with gay abandon among the wildflowers.

They flitted against the sky with petal-soft wings

As resplendent in hew as the blooms

They landed momentarily upon, then sprang

Into fanciful Fantasia pirouettes.

 

Maude Carolan

Books of poetry by Maude Carolan Pych...

For information:

www.maudecarolanpych.net