Poignant elegy for a monarch butterfly

Kathy Contrino, NY, wrote this very moving post in a private facebook group where we are both members, including her photos, about a monarch butterfly she observed for two weeks. It always brings me to tears.

"Incredibly beautiful and fragile even in death. I watched her these past few weeks in my yard. Tattered, she valiantly cruised the milkweed and laid as many eggs as she could in the hopes that her DNA, entrusted to her children, will make the hazardous trip to Mexico.

Is it any wonder this lovely butterfly has become the poster child for the conservation movement in the face of climate change. Every day I work to ensure that future generations will live to behold her as I do this lovely summer day and wonder about her life and death. I find that my hopes and dreams are no so different than hers."