Monarchs and the President

for Lincoln Brower (1931-2018)

The Monarch’s cortex, head of a pin,
contains maps of Earth and heavens within.

But the brain of our President holds less space
to chart a course for the human race.

We bet he didn’t see them go
when he choppered down to Mexico.

Butterflies equipped with Nature’s GPS
outsmart even Air Force One, we guess.

Flying past Stars and Stripes unfurled,
an exodus of migrants in an uncaged world.

Lincoln Brower, aged 86 years, died on
July 17, 2018. He spent over sixty years
studying the epic migratory pathways
of the Monarch butterfly between
North America and Mexico.

Chris Fitzpatrick is a Clinical Professor at the University College Dublin Centre for Human Reproduction at the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital.