The Monarch Egg

  1. One day I picked a fine bouquet
  2. Of wild milkweed flowers,
  3. Then pretty, purple, pink, perfumed
  4. To beautify the hours.
  5. But on a spray of greenery,
  6. Then on a milkweed leaf,
  7. I saw a tiny bit of white,
  8. If only but so brief.
  9. looked again to see an egg,
  10. Alone upon the frond,
  11. A tiny piece of living cell
  12. Which butterflies had bond.
  13. I watched this tiny bit of life,
  14. This simple little round;
  15. I watched this tiny egg turn dark
  16. And then a worm I found.
  17. Now a tiny little being
  18. A butterfly had laid;
  19. I watched it grow and grow and grow;
  20. I watched a monarch made.
  21. 'Twas dressed in black and white and gold,
  22. Most fitting for a king,
  23. But by and by he ceased to eat
  24. And to a leaf he'd cling.
  25. And then I watched his skin just split
  26. Before my very eyes;
  27. He changed into a chrysalid,
  28. A truly royal prize.
  29. But now gone was his black and white,
  30. Then traded for some green,
  31. And then the green was trimmed in gold,
  32. The finest that I had seen.
  33. A ring of brilliant golden jewels
  34. Adorned this royal prize;
  35. Now what could be more marvelous
  36. Than that before my eyes?
  37. I watched this tiny bit of life,
  38. This simple little round;
  39. I watched this tiny gem turn dark;
  40. I watched a thing profound.
  41. 'Cause then I saw his skin just split
  42. Before my very eyes;
  43. I saw a royal king emerge,
  44. Now born to rule the skies.
  45. Now what could be more marvelous
  46. Than that before my eyes:
  47. A pretty monarch butterfly;
  48. How easily it flies.

- G. Kittell
2001