Life as a caterpillar is certainly ephemeral,

But now its like a premature burial

As a larva I could go outside,

Eat my fill, then hide

From Hawks and other thugs

While I lay low with the other bugs.

I loved the warmth of the sun above

Now I'm in the dark and I cannot move

I’m trapped in a coffin of silk, not wood

I have no air, I have no food

I feel some changes, but I cannot see

Is this how my life is going to be?

I do feel safe. I do feel warm.

I don’t feel that I will come to harm.

But I am an animal and I have needs

I need to eat and move and breathe.

And I need to find myself a mate

So I can go and procreate.

A child asks “What is this?”

The teacher says “A Chrysalis.”

Is that what my prison is called?

It’s opening up, I’m going to fall!

But even though I’m upside down

I’m not falling to the ground.

I see a young child’s face

Looking at me in a glass case.

The teacher takes  the case outside.

And opens the top so I can fly.

Because what I feel, those huge things

Are actually a pair of amazing wings.

Now I’m a beautiful Monarch Butterfly

People Ooh and Ah as I fly by.

I can soar toward the Sun and hover and dive

I feel one hundred percent alive

With so many options, where will I go?

I think I’ll migrate to Mexico.