migration

they float round our bodies
     brush nearly   clothes   hair   skin
    as hundreds swarm
 
painted ladies
    filling the air
          on their way from North Africa

there they go        cosmopolitans
     through fields of white asphodel
    tall   branched   delicate,

here they come    vanessa cardui
     into green woodland glades
    Cyprus cedar   olive   black pine  

they sweep in waves on their way to wherever
      unhindered by borders
settle a moment    wings open to bright

quiver    take off    cluster   pair
      splashes of orange and brown
    cream and black

in their silence   in the sunshafts they ride
      with one swerve of wings
    by the curve of a petal

one moment of warmth is all that they need