Migrating Monarchs -- Fall

Monarchs now are moving west
And south, with firm resolve --
Twenty miles a day, I'd guess,
And 3 months time involved.

Flying just above the land,
This journey's quite immense --
O'er parlous lakes and parched sand,
And guided by what sense?

Singly do they make their way
But gather here and there;
Fraught by rain and colder days
And winds which doth impair.

Many monarchs doomed to fail --
The odds are rather high;
Many monarchs orange and frail,
But wondrous that they try.

By G. Kittell
2004