Yellow Swallowtail Butterfly
Beautiful yellow floating here and there amongst the chokecherry trees
never alighting
gliding South to North.
Single, first of the season.
Drifts East
into the neighbor’s evergreen tree.
Taking shelter an entire hour before the cold rain would arrive.
Smart. Prescient.
Cold rain quenches parched earth.
Three days pass.
Dazzling yellow with brilliant blue stripes
swoops upward over roof.
Joy.
never alighting
gliding South to North.
Single, first of the season.
Drifts East
into the neighbor’s evergreen tree.
Taking shelter an entire hour before the cold rain would arrive.
Smart. Prescient.
Cold rain quenches parched earth.
Three days pass.
Dazzling yellow with brilliant blue stripes
swoops upward over roof.
Joy.
This poem is copyright (©) Elizabeth Thoms Charles 2025
About the Writer
Elizabeth Thoms Charles
Elizabeth is a member of SCBWI. She loves gardening, reading, writing, and walking in nature which occasionally inspires poetry. She earned a BA in Spanish and an MLS in library science. She lives in Colorado and writes picture books and mysteries. Her poems have been published in The Dirigible Balloon.
