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57
CHRISTMAS MDCCCCVIII
[_]
Learned Aurelians call a lovely little Moth, that appears in February, sitting on or flitting round the leafless oak-trees, by the beautiful name, Hybernia Leucophaearia: and simpler folk call it by the yet more beautiful name of The Spring Usher. It is amongst the first of all moths to appear, as the Winter begins yielding to Spring.
Leucophaea, Ashen-gray!
So the Learned, Pretty One,
Name you: sleeping in the sun
This short February day,
So the Learned, Pretty One,
Name you: sleeping in the sun
This short February day,
Nestled closely to your oak,
Hardly from itself discerned;
Gentle Flutterer, all but turned
In your dun-barred quaker cloak
Hardly from itself discerned;
Gentle Flutterer, all but turned
In your dun-barred quaker cloak
To semblance of the aged tree,
That its hoary mottled side
Lends you, safely to abide
Till day dies, and dusk shall be:
That its hoary mottled side
Lends you, safely to abide
Till day dies, and dusk shall be:
Sweet Spring Usher, named aright
In our homely English phrase,
You, who brave these wintry days,
Harbinger of Spring's delight:
In our homely English phrase,
You, who brave these wintry days,
Harbinger of Spring's delight:
Comes the evening, and you flit
Gently round the barren boughs,
Seeking where to hear your vows
She, your destined Mate, may sit.
Gently round the barren boughs,
Seeking where to hear your vows
She, your destined Mate, may sit.
Just an Insect, nothing more!
Born to-day, to-morrow dead!
Is it all that may be said,
Watching how you pause or soar?
Born to-day, to-morrow dead!
58
Watching how you pause or soar?
You and I, my Little One,
You and I alert with life:
Whence and whither? Nature rife
With energy, as seasons run,
You and I alert with life:
Whence and whither? Nature rife
With energy, as seasons run,
Brings to birth or you or me,
Each a riddle none may read:
Hath She some mysterious need
You and I awhile should be?
Each a riddle none may read:
Hath She some mysterious need
You and I awhile should be?
Atoms both, what can we count
In her universal plan,
You a Moth, or I a Man,
As aeons upon aeons mount?
In her universal plan,
You a Moth, or I a Man,
As aeons upon aeons mount?
Ah! as you, if I could bring
Hope to some, that there shall rise
Days serener, bluer skies,
Promise of approaching Spring!
Hope to some, that there shall rise
Days serener, bluer skies,
Promise of approaching Spring!
1908.
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