wordsfromanneli

Thoughts, ideas, photos, and stories.


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Western Tiger Swallowtail

My job is to look pretty and to decorate the lands,

My wings are lemon yellow, and set off by several bands, 

The bands and borders are a match, they emphasize the rest,

But it’s the dots of red and blue that make me look the best.

 

I flutter through the shrubbery, I stop to rest and wait,

I nibble at the buds and leaves, while watching for my date,

Ah, here she comes so daintily, her wingbeat soft and sweet,

She settles down beside me as I’m thinking, “What a treat.”

 

 

“So darling will you fly with me, check out the walnut tree?

We’ll flitter here and flutter there, spend happy hours, you’ll see,”

My luck has just improved a lot, and so on bended knee,

I ask if she will marry me, my wife forever be.

 

“I’ll think about it,” says the tease, “What can you do for me?”

I stutter and I stammer,  as she flaps her wings in glee,

“Well, darling, if you’d like to know, I’d win a prize in show,

But now the most important thing is that I love you so.”

 

“That’s good enough for me,” she said, “I’d love to have a man, 

Someone who’ll be there by my side as often as he can.

He needn’t be there all day long, but still it would be nice,

To liven up my quiet life and add some fun and spice.”

 

 


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Western Tiger Swallowtail

I wore down my camera battery with all the zooming and unzooming, hoping this guy would hold still. But he had so many flowers to visit, he couldn’t make up his mind which one to rest on for more than a second or two.  His name is Papilio Rutulus and although he’s a western tiger swallowtail butterfly, it seems that something has swallowed his tail.

Could it  be a hungry bird

Who thought he’d eat him? How absurd.

Nothing tasty on these wings,

Not a bit that nourishment brings.

Maybe branches beat his back

On the piece he now does lack.

In the wind the twigs can whip

Snapping blows, and wings can rip.

Whatsoever happened here,

I’m so sorry, my poor dear.

Glad it doesn’t change your flight

As you flutter out of sight.