Tuesday Tunes: Ode to a Butterfly
One warm day last week, while walking Bizou and Dash in our awakening garden—awash with budding lilacs and daffodils, a tiny, blue butterfly flitted by us. Bizou, our 10-month-old puppy, promptly jumped, chased, and frolicked after this unwitting insect—performing all manner of twists and hops to catch it. Anyway, it was such a joyful sight that I was inspired to create this post. 🙂
“Ode to a Butterfly”
By Thomas Wentworth Higginson
Thou spark of life that wavest wings of gold,
Thou songless wanderer mid the songful birds,
With Nature’s secrets in thy tints unrolled
Through gorgeous cipher, past the reach of words,
Yet dear to every child
In glad pursuit beguiled,
Living his unspoiled days mid flowers and flocks and herds!
Thou winged blossom, liberated thing,
What secret tie binds thee to other flowers,
Still held within the garden’s fostering?
Will they too soar with the completed hours,
Take flight, and be like thee
Irrevocably free,
Hovering at will o’er their parental bowers?
Or is thy lustre drawn from heavenly hues,—-
A sumptuous drifting fragment of the sky,
Caught when the sunset its last glance imbues
With sudden splendor, and the tree tops high…
The garden one wide banquet spreads for thee,
O daintiest reveller of the joyous earth!
One drop of honey gives satiety;
A second draught would drug thee past all mirth.
Thy feast no orgy shows;
Thy calm eyes never close,
Thou soberest sprite to which the sun gives birth.
Categories: music, Poetry, Tuesday Tunes
fourth generation farmgirl 
This is a joyful sight! The promise of warm days, flowers, and beautiful butterflies. This post made me smile 🙂
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Your lovely comment made me smile! Thank you. I’m looking forward to spring, too. 🙂
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I miss butterflies. thanks for posting the pics.
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Thank you. I miss them, too. I’m so ready for spring. Have a nice day, Jim! 😊
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I seldom see butterflies until midsummer, so this post makes me think of the garden! 🙂 Soon! 🙂
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I love planning my spring and summer garden. I think I’m going to plant a mixture of fruit, vegetables, herbs, and flowers this season–an old-fashioned kitchen garden. Hopefully, the butterflies will visit! 🙂
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I do hope so, and I know you’ll share photos when they do! 😀
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You know me! 😉 Thanks, Joey.
Have a nice weekend! 🙂
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Oooh I look forward to the butterflies this spring! I bet Bizou had a good time chasing it. 🙂
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Bizou loved it!! He was hilarious springing into the air while trying to catch it! He has such a joyful and curious little personality. We just love him! 😊
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I do love butterflies!
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I do, too. 🙂
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Butterflies are so rare these days in the city. Refreshing pictures 🙂
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Thank you, Prajakta. The Monarch butterfly is actually becoming rare in the countryside as well—thanks to pesticides. We try to only use organic methods to manage our gardens on the farm.
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We have so many butterflies in the garden suddenly, a sure sign spring is here xx
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I think we’re all ready for spring! xo
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Just what I needed today…🦋
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Wonderful! 😊 🦋
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This is so uplifting Tonya 🙂
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That makes me happy! I’m glad you think so. Thank you, Judy. 😊🌸🦋
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Nice pictures! Who wouldn’t be enchanted with butterflies? This is one reason I’d love to go outdoors and I’d like coming home because you won’t find them in Manila. Having butterflies is a sign that the ecosystem of the place is healthy. 😀
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Welcome! Thank you for visiting, Rhema. That’s such an interesting point about butterflies and the ecosystem. It makes sense. 🙂
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I never have seen this type of butterfly here in Belgium,before & what a beautiful ode too!
I loved it! 👍🏻
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Thank you, Sophie. It’s a Monarch butterfly. They’re mainly found in North and South America as well as Australia. 🙂
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Thank you. 👍🏻
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Our lilacs won’t be out for some time nor our butterflies, Tonya! What wondrous beautiful photos to share with us so nicely! Thank you, dear. ❤
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😊❤
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