Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE BUTTERFLY, by ALICE ARCHER SEWALL JAMES


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE BUTTERFLY, by                    
First Line: I am not what I was yesterday
Last Line: Take care of me.
Subject(s): Butterflies; Insects; Bugs


I AM not what I was yesterday,
God knows my name.
I am made in a smooth and beautiful way,
And full of flame.

The color of corn are my pretty wings,
My flower is blue.
I kiss its topmost pearl, it swings
And I swing too.

I dance above the tawny grass
In the sunny air,
So tantalized to have to pass
Love everywhere.

O Earth, O Sky, you are mine to roam
In liberty.
I am the soul and I have no home, --
Take care of me.

For double I drift through a double world
Of spirit and sense;
I and my symbol together whirled
From who knows whence?

There's a tiny weed, God knows what good, --
It sits in the moss.
Its wings are heavy and spotted with blood
Across and across.

I sometimes settle a moment there,
And I am so sweet,
That what it lacks of the glad and fair
I fill complete.

The little white moon was once like me;
But her wings are one.
Or perhaps they closed together be
As she swings in the sun.

When the clovers close their three green wings
Just as I do,
I creep to the primrose heart of things,
And close mine, too.

And then wide opens the candid night,
Serene and intense;
For she has, instead of love and light,
God's confidence.

And I watch that other butterfly,
The one-winged moon,
Till, drunk with sweets in which I lie,
I dream and swoon.

And then when I to three days grow,
I find out pain.
For swift there comes an ache, -- I know
That I am twain.

And nevermore can I be one
In liberty.
O Earth, O Sky, your use is done,
Take care of me.





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