Glass Monarch

It wasn't a monarch butterfly. The science teacher told us the long fancy name for the insect, but of course nobody actually payed attention. It was a monarch though. Standing high above us in the glass case on the wall above the chalkboard, pinned. Orange, papery wings spread wide. Colours of the dawn, I saw it each day. It was beatiful, and terrifying. Something so innocent, but it was so condescending, looking down at us as we went through the day, as to say "you cannot fly". But it couldn't either, it was pinned. A trivial display ruling over.