| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Georgian Verse. 1909. | | | | To a Butterfly | | By William Wordsworth (1770–1850) |
| | | I’VE watched you now a full half-hour, | |
| Self-poised upon that yellow flower; | |
| And, little Butterfly! indeed | |
| I know not if you sleep or feed. | |
| How motionless!—not frozen seas | 5 |
| More motionless! and then | |
| What joy awaits you, when the breeze | |
| Hath found you out among the trees, | |
| And calls you forth again! | |
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| This plot of Orchard-ground is ours; | 10 |
| My trees they are, my Sister’s flowers: | |
| Here rest your wings when they are weary; | |
| Here lodge as in a sanctuary! | |
| Come often to us, fear no wrong; | |
| Sit near us on the bough! | 15 |
| 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. | | | | |
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