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Poems by the late Hon. William R. Spencer

A New Edition with Corrections and Additions; To Which is Prefixed A Biographical Memoir by the Editor

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TO A BUTTERFLY,
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


159

TO A BUTTERFLY,

AT THE END OF WINTER.

Fold your enamell'd wings again,
Oh yet prolong your wintry sleep!—
How many wake from ease to pain,
And only ope their eyes—to weep!
Ah no! undimm'd by tears, you see
Where nature lights your flow'ry way;
Poor human insect! low'r for me
Those clouds which sadden reason's day!
By reason's light, with joyless eyes,
On all creation's laws we look;
What read we there? Pains, penalties,
And our death-sentence ends the book.

160

Whilst blithe you range from rose to rose,
We, sighing, muse how short their bloom!
To you life's twilight prospect shews
No mines of science—and no tomb!
But yet, though reason damp our mirth,
One matchless hope its aid has given;
Your twilight only shews you Earth,
Our day, though clouded, shews us Heaven!