Oh, these ragged wings   Oh, these papery things   Ah but strong am I   I can fly and fly   I'm the king, am I   Earthly winds I ride for miles and miles      I've been biding time   At the over-wintering site   Where the firs are fine   And the mountains high   The winter months we like   This habitat for us is perfectly designed      Lepidopterists are pleased   Know it took them years to find me   In nineteen seventy-five   Discovery arrived   In Mexico the prize   This is where we hide   But still you wonder why   We are so dramatically inclined   To live this migratory life      (spanish?)      Lives like ours rely   On seasonal plants which die   And soil gets too dry   And sunlight does grow nigh   We travel 'til we find   A host by which our darling hatchlings will survive      A green tender shoot   Asclepiads bloom   Fragrant firework   Cardenolides usurp   Aposematics work   Assiduously we searched   And though it won't be me   My progeny will surely see   Their return to the prairies