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Home  »  The Book of the Sonnet  »  Bernard Barton (1784–1849)

Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867.

I. To My Wife

Bernard Barton (1784–1849)

THE BUTTERFLY, which sports on gaudy wing;

The brawling brooklet, lost in foam and spray,

As it goes dancing on its idle way;

The sunflower, in broad daylight glistening;

Are types of her who in the festive ring

Lives but to bask in fashion’s vain display,

And glittering through her bright but useless day,

“Flaunts, and goes down a disregarded thing!”

Thy emblem, Lucy, is the busy bee,

Whose industry for future hours provides;

The gentle streamlet, gladding as it glides

Unseen along; the flower which gives the lea

Fragrance and loveliness, are types of thee,

And of the active worth thy modest merit hides.