 | Birds, Bees and Blossoms |  |
66
SONG OF THE SMALL INSECTS.
Though you won't see us with the naked eye,
Yet take up a glass that will magnify,
And you'll say, though we are such tiny things,
We have the most beautiful bodies and wings
You ever beheld, or eye ever saw.
Yet take up a glass that will magnify,
And you'll say, though we are such tiny things,
We have the most beautiful bodies and wings
You ever beheld, or eye ever saw.
We live in the yellow pollen of flowers,
And a golden land is that of ours,
Where we among the stamens play
At hide and seek the live-long day,
And lift on high our speckled horns.
And a golden land is that of ours,
Where we among the stamens play
At hide and seek the live-long day,
And lift on high our speckled horns.
Behind the golden pillars we creep,
And there we hide and play bo-peep.
Into the yellow cells we run,
And through the petals in our fun;
You have got no such play-grounds as we.
And there we hide and play bo-peep.
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And through the petals in our fun;
You have got no such play-grounds as we.
Though you can't see us with the naked eye,
With the richest jewels and flowers we vie.
Examine my horns: saw ye ever before
A grander scroll above window or door?
And look at the feathers I shake when I play.
With the richest jewels and flowers we vie.
Examine my horns: saw ye ever before
A grander scroll above window or door?
And look at the feathers I shake when I play.
Look how the black and brown are blended,
Twisted and twined, then grandly ended
With tufts of such majestic plumes
As no lady e'er presumes
To place upon her titled brow.
Twisted and twined, then grandly ended
With tufts of such majestic plumes
As no lady e'er presumes
To place upon her titled brow.
None are so grandly clad as I.
The perfumed, flowers my garments dye,
And all the richest colours they bear
I on my wings and body wear—
The rainbow's dull compared with me.
The perfumed, flowers my garments dye,
And all the richest colours they bear
I on my wings and body wear—
The rainbow's dull compared with me.
Sometimes we sport in a great sunflower,
And in its cells we can hide by the hour.
Deep deep down where the sunbeams play,
In a golden cavern so still we lay,
Those who seek us cannot find us at all.
And in its cells we can hide by the hour.
Deep deep down where the sunbeams play,
In a golden cavern so still we lay,
Those who seek us cannot find us at all.
And oh! we ever find great delight
In climbing those golden pillars so bright,
Then reaching the top and pretending to fall,
Well knowing we cannot be hurt at all
When we tumble down in the yellow bloom.
In climbing those golden pillars so bright,
Then reaching the top and pretending to fall,
Well knowing we cannot be hurt at all
When we tumble down in the yellow bloom.
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Then what are your chariots rich and gay
To the golden worlds in which I play
With my jewelled sisters all the long day,
In a land where it is ever May,
In a world that's covered o'er with flowers?
To the golden worlds in which I play
With my jewelled sisters all the long day,
In a land where it is ever May,
In a world that's covered o'er with flowers?
And other insects I can see,
Which are many times smaller than me;
So much smaller, that in my sight
I'm an elephant beside a mite,
And like a mountain look by these!
Which are many times smaller than me;
So much smaller, that in my sight
I'm an elephant beside a mite,
And like a mountain look by these!
And He made us who made you all;
Nor is there anything so small
As to escape His watchful eye,
That fills the whole o'erhanging sky,
And neither day nor night is closed.
Nor is there anything so small
As to escape His watchful eye,
That fills the whole o'erhanging sky,
And neither day nor night is closed.
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