Conversations introducing poetry chiefly on subjects of natural history. For the use of children and young persons. By Charlotte Smith |
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THE GLOW-WORM. |
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 | Conversations introducing poetry |  |
59
THE GLOW-WORM.
If on some balmy breathing night of SpringThe happy child, to whom the world is new,
Pursues the evening moth of mealy wing,
Or from the heath flower beats the sparkling dew,
He sees, before his inexperienc'd eyes,
The brilliant glow-worm like a meteor shine
On the turf bank; amaz'd and pleas'd he cries,
“Star of the dewy grass, I make thee mine!”
Then, e'er he sleeps, collects the moisten'd flower,
And bids soft leaves his glittering prize enfold,
And dreams that fairy lamps illume his bower,
Yet with the morning shudders to behold
His lucid treasure, rayless as the dust.
So turns the world's bright joys to cold and blank disgust.
| Conversations introducing poetry | |