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The Spike: or, Victoria University College Review, October 1918

To a Butterfly

page 30

To a Butterfly

Born of the union of the day
With beauty at his fairest birth,
Thou warm'st the heart of Mother Eargh,
Brighter e'en than sunniest ray
Which mocks the shadows in its play,
And joins the world with mirth.

Palest of purple are thy wings,
And softer than the silk cocoon,
Or amorous glances that the moon
Lavished on that sad youth who sings
Of love, of thee, of rural things,
Till twilight grants to night here boon.

Beneath thy kiss the frailest flowers
Display their colours to the dawn.
Yellow narcissus sees forlorn
The dryad sighing from her bowers.
And all adown the weary hours,
Thy spirit longs for fragrant morn.

How fleeting short a life is thine.
What hearest thou, no mortal knows.
The whishpered secret of the rose,
Thou carriest to the eglantine.
Era glad thy burdens dost resign
To the still beauty of repose.

W.E.L.