A September Letter to Monarchs
A Poem Dedicated To The Necessary Work of Resilience and Reinvention
I’m always amused when a poem decides to be born on the page. I dedicate this poem, A September Letter to Monarchs, to the very important women in my life doing the necessary work of resilience and reinvention. Although monarch butterflies have a short life cycle, they are immortal in our collective consciousness.
Dear Monarch,
It is September and you are preparing to take flight.
How do you know when it is time to leave?
Is it the wind that whispers softly to you?
Does its once-warm breath chill your beautiful and fragile wings?
Or is it a knowing that you carry deep inside?
Godspeed on this journey of more than 2,000 miles.
I regret that I cannot accompany you.
I take comfort in the fact that you will journey with others like you. They will hold you up when you are too tired to continue.
They will remind you of the strength in your wings.
And they will feed you the sweet nectar of your independence.
You will be too far away for me to share my heart's wisdom, so they will stand in my place.
They will become your kith and kin.
They will become your guardians.
Precious Monarch, you are worthy of this fierce cosmic love.
May you glide beneath the moon.
May you sail atop raindrops and may you dodge monsoons.
I'll wait patiently for your return with my palms turned up in expectation.
I'll love you always.
Be brave.
Be brave.
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You are a Queen Monarch Teresa. I’m thankful for your resilience!
"May you sail atop raindrops." How our hearts wish for that, both for our beloved Monarchs and for all the other insects that fly under their celebrated wings. Well put, Teresa!