AFTER life's departing sigh, To the spots I loved most dearly, In the sunshine and the shadow, By the fountain welling clearly, Through the wood and o'er the meadow, Flit I like a butterfly. There a gentle pair I spy. Round the maiden's tresses flying, From her chaplet I discover All that I had lost in dying, Still with her and with her lover. Who so happy then as I? For she smiles with laughing eye; And his lips to hers he presses, Vows of passion interchanging, Stifling her with sweet caresses, O'er her budding beauties ranging; And around the twain I fly. And she sees me fluttering night; And beneath his ardour trembling, Starts she up -- then off I hover. 'Look there, dearest!' Thus dissembling, Speaks the maiden to her lover -- 'Come and catch that butterfly!' | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HELEN, THE SAD QUEEN by PAUL VALERY REMEMBRANCE by JOHN HENRY BONER THIRD BOOK OF AIRS: SONG 17. A LOVER'S PLEA by THOMAS CAMPION EPITAPHS OF THE WAR, 1914-18: THE BEGINNER by RUDYARD KIPLING REBEL COLOR-BEARERS AT SHILOH by HERMAN MELVILLE THE PAST IS THE PRESENT by MARIANNE MOORE |