Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO BUTTERFLY, by WILLIAM ALEXANDER PERCY



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO BUTTERFLY, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Do you remember how the twilight stood
Last Line: When it is march -- do you remember still?
Subject(s): Birds; Evening; Gardens & Gardening; Moon; Silence; Sunset; Twilight


Do you remember how the twilight stood
And leaned above the river just to see
If still the crocus buds were in her hood
And if her robes were gold or shadowy?
Do you remember how the twilight stood
When we were lovers and the world our wood?

And then, one night, when we could find no word
But silence trembled like a heart -- like mine! --
And suddenly that moon-enraptured bird
Awoke and all the darkness turned to wine?
How long ago that was! And how absurd
For us to own a wood that owned a bird!

They tell me there are magic gardens still,
And birds that sleep to wake and dream to sing,
And streams that pause for crocus skies to fill;
But they that told were lovers and 'twas spring.
Yet why the moon to-night's a daffodil
When it is March -- Do you remember still?





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