LatinosUSA

Goodbye to the Last Monarch

Effort-filled wings
Striving on an impossible Southern journey.

Beloved royalty
Of the natural world
Bestowed upon
A vulnerable and diminutive spirit.

Like most beautiful things
You never did any asking.

Dazzling colors to pale any rose,
You may be the last one
Perhaps neither of us know.

Slipping silently forever from sight,
Dodging bustling cities focused
On absurdities.

Perhaps the world has no place left
For God’s flying tapestry.

I see you disappear across the hayfields
Through the open window
Of grandfather’s farmhouse.
Billowing white curtains
Stained the color of tea.

And like other loves lost,
You slip away
When most unexpected,
On a whisper of breeze.