Butterflies of Late Summer

A Sonnet and a Tanka

This week I have two poems about butterflies in the garden. This is the season when butterflies become much more active here in the desert, as well as the time when migrating varieties fly through.

The butterfly of the first poem was almost certainly a Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa), and it was visiting a wildflower which I encourage in my garden as it brings bright color during the often rather drab days of late summer and early autumn.

The other element in this sonnet is the heat, which has climbed unusually high and is apparently set to remain there, alas. We should be getting an honest drop into fall temperatures by now, but not this year!

Here is the poem…

Sonnet, Butterfly, Wildflower

All dusky are your wings; the frill of white
along the edge makes their hue darker still;
unornamented, mourning hues, they will
at noontime bear the softness of the night.
Upon the wild-blooms rest in dark on light
your sober wings against their gold until
the breezes tumble, topsy-turvy, fill
you once again with all the joy of flight.
Unwonted heat upon your wings today,
unwonted heat upon the blooms’ first glow;
yet quiet through the day both you and they
go on; their yellow full of nectar’s flow,
you sip and brush their blossoms on your way;
your slender life is all you need to know.

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And here is a tanka, also straight from the garden—another butterfly on another plant…

The peaceful garden:
the point of an iris spear
is hardly warlike
when adorned by pale brown wings
of an errant butterfly.

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