The Butterfly Princesses

Atop the blanched plume of a pampas grass stem,

Overlooking a sea of white daisies

Stretching out to the edge of a wild flower lea

Where the forget-me-not bumblebee lazes,

Is the grandiose house of the butterfly king

Filled with treasures and precious excesses,

With a bright yellow spire built from pollen ball bricks

Home to three rather lovely princesses.

The fairest of all in that field and beyond

Their beauty was famed and fought over

By the slow sliding slug sheiks of blackberry nook

And the ladybird lords camped in clover.

Each one with wide eyes firmly fixed on a prize

That made shy spiders scurry and scutter

To see those red painted yet delicate wings

Underneath sun kissed skies gently flutter.

Lovesick and besotted with hearts beating fast

Each suitor petitioned for marriage,

To win for themselves a sweet butterfly bride

To parade in a crab apple carriage.

But the majestic monarch alongside his queen,

Both filled with parental devotion

Wished for their three daughters to choose for themselves

And would not entertain such a notion.