Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ELEGIAC SONNET: 58. THE GLOW-WORM, by CHARLOTTE SMITH


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ELEGIAC SONNET: 58. THE GLOW-WORM, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: When on some balmy-breathing night of spring
Last Line: -- so turn the world's bright joys to cold and blank disgust.
Alternate Author Name(s): Smith, Charlotte Turner
Subject(s): Fireflies; Glowworms


When on some balmy-breathing night of Spring
The happy child, to whom the world is new,
Pursues the evening moth, of mealy wing,
Or from the heath-bell beats the sparkling dew;
He sees before his inexperienced eyes
The brilliant Glow-worm, like a meteor, shine
On the turf-bank; -- amazed, and pleased, he cries,
"Star of the dewy grass! -- I make thee mine!" --
Then, ere he sleep, collects "the moisten'd" flower,
And bids soft leaves his glittering prize enfold
And dreams that Fairy-lamps illume his bower:
Yet with the morning shudders to behold
His lucid treasure, rayless as the dust!
-- So turn the world's bright joys to cold and blank disgust.





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