I'D be a butterfly born in a bower, Where roses and lilies and violets meet; Roving for ever from flower to flower, Kissing all buds that are pretty and sweet. I'd never languish for wealth or for power, I'd never sigh to see slaves at my feet; I'd be a butterfly born in a bower, Kissing all buds that are pretty and sweet. Oh! could I pilfer the wand of a fairy, I'd have a pair of those beautiful wings. Their summer day's ramble is sportive and airy, They sleep in a rose when the nightingale sings. Those who have wealth must be watchful and wary, Power, alas! naught but misery brings; I'd be a butterfly, sportive and airy, Rock'd in a rose when the nightingale sings. What though you tell me each gay little rover Shrinks from the breath of the first autumn day; Surely 't is better, when summer is over, To die, when all fair things are fading away. Some in life's winter may toil to discover Means of procuring a weary delay: I'd be a butterfly, living a rover, Dying when fair things are fading away | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LET THE LIGHT ENTER (THE DYING WORDS OF GOETHE) by FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER THE PHILOSOPHER by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY SONNET: DEATH-WARNINGS by FRANCISCO GOMEZ DE QUEVEDO Y VILLEGAS THE PRELUDE: BOOK 1. CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOL-TIME by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH PRAYER TO THE VIRGIN OF CHARTRES by HENRY BROOKS ADAMS BROTHERLY LOVE by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH |