All summer long the milkweed spreads its blossoms
To the sun, its fleshy leaves bulging with milky sap.
Monarchs come and go, sipping nectar with a straw
Drunk on summer's warmth.

Appetite ensues. Seeds ignite with life. Jaws chomp
Down on flesh, sucking the sap. The body grows, transforms
Grows bigger until the moment and a signal comes
And it's time to move on.

Hooked and hanging, three green acorns, chrysalises
Wait, ten whole long days of waiting then
Then blacken, the colour and spots of wings emerge
And the struggle for freedom starts.

One by one they open. Wings dry in the air
Catch the breeze and are gone, leaving only hanging shells
Except for one, its wing caught awkwardly in the womb as it struggled,
It twitched, died. A small sarcophagus left swinging in the breeze.