On the Flawed Phototaxis of the Cloaked Ones

Enigmatically resplendent, exhibiting dark maroon, velvety wings, 

Traced in gold, bearing sapphire dots, 

Clad in funereal attire, 

It tries to bathe in the Cali sunlight, 

Calistogian early October, 

Smack dab in the neck of it, 

Wild wind, desperately dry.

Overtaken, so sudden, given Tubbs’ allure, 

Evolution pressing, bolt into the hungry pyre, 

Flames bellowing, 

Crimson, vermilion, scarlet, and amber, 

Commencing peripheral incandescence, 

Engulfing membranous wings, 

Thin, layered chitin and scales, ripped and torn in 

Scorching ignition, 

Searing and consuming wings,

Now writhing, curling, 

Avec such impossible heat,

Such torrid distress.

Thorax, abdomen, and remaining segments contort, 

Amidst the blaze devouring the proteins within, 

Resulting in the final boil and blackening of a withered, 

Thermally degraded exoskeleton�" 

Now fractured, broken;

Denatured, defiled, and desecrated,

This danse macabre,

Leads to a solitary, visceral, violent end.