William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Georgian Verse. 1909.
To a ButterflyWilliam Wordsworth (1770–1850)
S
A little longer stay in sight!
Much converse do I find in thee,
Historian of my Infancy!
Float near me; do not yet depart!
Dead times revive in thee:
Thou bring’st, gay Creature as thou art!
A solemn image to my heart,
My Father’s Family!
The time, when, in our childish plays,
My Sister Emmeline and I
Together chased the Butterfly!
A very hunter did I rush
Upon the prey:—with leaps and springs
I followed on from brake to bush;
But she, God love her! feared to brush
The dust from off its wings.