The purple emperor butterfly

The purple emperor butterfly
lives in the canopy, quite high;
no flowers up there with nectar sweet,
so what is there for it to eat?

When aphids suck the sugary sap
they drip out honey-dew drops, non-stop,
and so this butterfly licks that up,
and drinks through its proboscis tip.

The male has magpie wings with sheen
of brilliant purple, which will show
under an angled bright sunshine.

They sometimes do descend below
to get some salts from earth that’s wet,
from droppings, or your finger’s sweat!

The caterpillar’s green with lines of yellow
– a perfect camouflage on sallow
(whose leaves it likes to nibble, swallow),
unnoticed, casting little shadow.