"A una mariposa monarca"

PETER KUPER: The celebrated Mexican poet and novelist Homero Aridjis is one of the Spanish-speaking world’s foremost living writers. He is also among his country’s most influential environmental activists. His particular interest in monarch butterflies led him to spearhead the movement to preserve the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve—a butterfly sanctuary about 60 miles outside Mexico City, where millions upon millions of monarchs congregate in the winter.

Aridjis’s poem titled “A una mariposa monarca”—or, “To a monarch butterfly”—is a short but powerful expression of the captivating allure of these colorful winged creatures.

HOMERO ARIDJIS:

A una mariposa monarca

Tú que vas por el día 

como un tigre alado 

quemándote en tu vuelo 

dime qué vida sobrenatural 

está pintada en tus alas 

para que después de esta vida 

pueda verte en mi noche

TRANSLATION READ BY PETER KUPER:

To a monarch butterfly

You who go through the day

like a winged tiger

burning as you fly

tell me what supernatural life

is painted on your wings

so that after this life

I may see you in my darkness