And I can listen to thee yet; Can lie upon the plain And listen, till I do beget That golden time again. O blessed Bird! the earth we pace Again appears to be An unsubstantial, faery place; That is fit home for Thee! 30 12. TO A BUTTERFLY. I've watch'd you now a full half hour, I know not if you sleep, or feed. More motionless! and then What joy awaits you, when the breeze Hath found you out among the trees, And calls you forth again! This plot of Orchard-ground is ours; Come often to us, fear no wrong; Sit near us on the bough! We'll talk of sunshine and of song ; And summer days, when we were young, Sweet childish days, that were as long As twenty days are now! 13. It is no Spirit who from Heaven hath flown, Nor Traveller gone from Earth the Heavens to espy ! 'Tis Hesperus-there he stands with glittering crown, First admonition that the sun is down! For yet it is broad day-light: clouds pass by; A few are near him still—and now the sky, O most ambitious Star! an inquest wrought As thou seem'st now to do; might one day trace Some ground not mine; and, strong her strength above, My Soul, an Apparition in the place, Tread there, with steps that no one shall reprove! |