I watched a Hawaiian Monarch
float the salt air of a wave
like its small form was somehow
meant to do this
pulled down
catapulted forward
launched up again and again
into the spray

unable to look away
I began to worry after all
it was only a matter of time
before this small thing
paper thin and fragile
would be swallowed

persimmon colored wings
and bold black
splattered against volcanic rock
in a brocade of lace
and tissue

of course this never happens
but that doesn't stop me
from imagining
wings blown apart
and spread

like a mounted specimen
upon the beach
a flag of warning

that none of the others
will see