 | The poet, the fool and the faeries |  |
117
WORM AND FLY
Unseen the lizard, in reptilian night,
Evolves the hole wherein are placed its eggs,
Small, yolky oblongs of membraneous white,
Seed-like that put forth legs.
Evolves the hole wherein are placed its eggs,
Small, yolky oblongs of membraneous white,
Seed-like that put forth legs.
Beneath the stone, that lies where long it fell,
The pale grub sleeps until the Summer sings,
Then, blindly groping, splits its locust shell
And whirls rejoicing wings.
The pale grub sleeps until the Summer sings,
Then, blindly groping, splits its locust shell
And whirls rejoicing wings.
Upon the oak bough, swelling with the sap,
The gray-green gall rounds, like a wart, its sphere,
Wherein the woodfly's whining sting shall tap,
And bore its thin way clear.
The gray-green gall rounds, like a wart, its sphere,
Wherein the woodfly's whining sting shall tap,
And bore its thin way clear.
I stand and wonder, pausing mid the trees,
And question what they purpose—worm and fly;
Unbeautiful; and made, it seems, to tease,
And weary ear and eye.
And question what they purpose—worm and fly;
Unbeautiful; and made, it seems, to tease,
And weary ear and eye.
Does Nature blunder into forms? Does she
Count these as true expressions,—fly and worm?
And Man?—perhaps her one mistake is he—
Slow-toiling out his term.
Count these as true expressions,—fly and worm?
118
Slow-toiling out his term.
Hag-lights and fox-fire and the wisp that flies—
Are they not parts too of great Nature's scheme?—
'T is flame that shows where buried treasure lies,
And night, that makes it gleam.
Are they not parts too of great Nature's scheme?—
'T is flame that shows where buried treasure lies,
And night, that makes it gleam.
| The poet, the fool and the faeries | |