David Crews

Monarchs

The leaves are turning

in the valley it is difficult to notice

but once atop bedrock

open sky preserves color

what do you see          

It’s like they are floating
she says 

there are so many

drifting to endless blue

where are they going

They follow currents south  

to breed

at one point monarch meant

supreme governor of life

the fifty daughters of Danaus

King of Argos

who killed their husbands

on wedding nights

condemned to the underworld

to draw water

in bottomless buckets

futile labor

Danaus plexippus

I wish we could see it 

this sleepy transformation they name

hibernation

metamorphosis

the kingdom Animalia includes animals

then invertebrates

having not
and still becoming 

caterpillar, chrysalis
butterfly

that was named
Arthropoda, insect

what is it

striking or jumping or floating

along the ridge

I feel each one pulled

by a string, and it makes me

a child again

The glaciers of the last ice age

instigated migration

some go to deserts in the west

some mix

with sedentary populations

in the tropics

Central America

the Caribbean

travelers, solo natives

and they are different

in behavior and shape

some fly

over eleven hours straight

without feeding

four thousand miles

to Sierra Madre de Oriente

the Gulf of Mexico

it is a marvel they know where to go

I will remember this day

of cairns, sky
and monarchs

Do you remember

when we first came here

monarchs by the thousands

now, neighbors plant milkweed

Scarlet milkweed, Pinewoods

milkweed, Swamp

and Butterfly
milkweed

its pattern, they say, repels

predatory birds

but their diet

makes them toxic
still

they are in trouble

What if they could see what we see

here, right now

maybe others would save trees

plant milkweed

and remember these creatures

as a wonderous flight of the living

then
they might always

have somewhere to go

Do you remember
that day

on the ridge trail to the summit

the sky so blue, and those wisps

of cloud
and monarchs

drifting in wind

the image of them 
remains

so vivid, so earthly and ours

I want to say

I love you
and love too  

there are moments we have shared

moments inside this world

we call
life, the living

  the self-willed land

what is easily forgotten when gone

maybe one day

you might paint this memory

how you love

to make the world

feel alive

and beautiful

This poem and painting were first exhibited together in April 2020 at NorthWind Fine Arts in Saranac Lake, NY for the gallery’s annual National Poetry Month Celebration.