Poem by William Wordsworth

To a Butterfly (Stay near me - do not take thy flight!)

Stay near me - do not take thy flight!
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!

Oh! pleasant, pleasant were the days,
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.

1. Anticipation, October 1803
2. Written in Very Early Youth
3. The Vaudois
4. Memory
5. To the Memory of Raisley Calvert

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