 | [Poems by Drake in] The life and works of Joseph Rodman Drake (1795-1820) |  |
XXV
He put his acorn helmet on;It was plumed with the silk of the thistle-down.
The corslet plate that guarded his breast
Was once the wild bee's golden vest;
His cloak, of a thousand mingled dyes,
Was formed of the wings of butterflies;
His shield was the shell of a lady-bug queen,
Studs of gold on a ground of green;
And the quivering lance which he brandished bright,
Was the sting of a wasp he had slain in fight.
Swift he bestrode his fire-fly steed,
He bared his blade of the bent grass blue,
He drove his spurs of the cockle-seed,
And away like a glance of thought he flew,
163
The fiery trail of the rocket-star.
| [Poems by Drake in] The life and works of Joseph Rodman Drake (1795-1820) | |