Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO A BUTTERFLY, by GEORGE HERBERT CLARKE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO A BUTTERFLY, by                    
First Line: Butterfly
Last Line: While with thee I wander!
Subject(s): Butterflies; Insects; Nature - Religious Aspects; Wandering & Wanderers; Bugs; Wanderlust; Vagabonds; Tramps; Hoboes


BUTTERFLY, butterfly,
Flutter by,
Over and under and over,
Flitting from lily to clover,
Restless, unsatisfied rover!
What is it thou dost hunger after
That is not now, yet is eternally to be—
Sunshine and the warm sun-laughter
Touching into glory the waving wings of thee?
Frail insect, mad-possessed
Of quenchless, fruitless quest,
Patiently brooding the loneliest leaf,
Searching the silentest flower,
Placing the hills and the meadows in fief,
Scorning no spot of the arid or arable,
Questing for aye in thy life of an hour,—
Butterfly, butterfly,
Utter thy parable!

Tireless discoverer,
Voyager vagrant,
Hopefullest hoverer,
Lured by the fragrant;
Ruthless deserter of grapes and camellias,
Yearning to, turning from, countless Ophelias,—

Urged on by the vision
Of wonder supernal,
To autumn's decision
Referring the vernal;
All to see, all to see:
Of the Past the history,
Of the Last the mystery;
For brief engrossing moments joying in the real,
Yet swift again to know the sting of the ideal;
Wary of Nature's benison,
(In the inmost heart of thee the pang, the sting!)
Of this demesne no denizen,
No captive, but an age-appointed Thing!

Butterfly, can nothing win thee into rest,-
No petal here or yonder? ...
Nay, flutter by, contentless, as is best,—
While with thee I wander!





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