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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE DRAGON FLY, by WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR Poet Analysis Poet's Biography
First Line: Life (priest and poet say) is but a dream
Last Line: Who fancy so unjust a thing!
Variant Title(s): Lines To A Dragon-fly
Subject(s): Dragonflies
First Line: Life (priest and poet say) is but a dream
Last Line: Who fancy so unjust a thing!
Variant Title(s): Lines To A Dragon-fly
Subject(s): Dragonflies
LIFE (priest and poet say) is but a dream;
I wish no happier one than to be laid
Beneath a cool syringa's scented shade,
Or wavy willow, by the running stream,
Brimful of moral, where the Dragon-fly
Wanders as careless and content as I.
Thanks for this fancy, insect king,
Of purple crest and filmy wing,
Who with indifference givest up
The water-lily's golden cup;
To come again and overlook
What I am writing in my book.
Believe me, most who read the line
Will read with hornier eyes than thine;
And yet their souls shall live for ever,
And thine drop dead into the river!
God pardon them, O insect king,
Who fancy so unjust a thing!
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Other Poems of Interest...
THE DRAGONFLY-MOTHER by DENISE LEVERTOV
THE DRAGONFLY by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES
THE DRAGONFLY by HEINRICH HEINE
THE DRAGONFLY by HEINRICH HEINE
TO A DRAGON FLY by AGNES MARY F. ROBINSON
THE TURN OF A DRAGONFLY'S WING by SIMONIDES OF CEOS
THE DRAGONFLY by JOHN BANISTER TABB
A FIESOLAN IDYL by WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR