To a Dead Butterfly in a Flower Garden
By Anna Maria Wells
Annotations by Jessica Abell
Smithsonian Design Museum, New York, NY.
And is it thus I see thee lying, Thou bright and lovely thing,— And yesterday that thou wert flying, The gayest imp of spring! At morning, when the buds are bending, With glitt'ring dew-drops blind, And flower to flower its incense sending, Like thought from mind to mind; And back and forth the swallows coming, Pursue their pleas'd employ,— And the small insect's ceaseless humming Betrays the heart of joy. 'Twas then thy wont mid-summer flowers To take thy bliss,—while they, Blushing with joy in leafy bowers, Still wooed thee delay. Mourn, ev'ry bud and ev'ry blossom— Mourn ev'ry verdant thing— For him, who on your fragrant bosom Was wont to rest his wing! Mourn queen-like rose! Her faded glory Let the sad woodbine trail— Mourn, hyacinth, the hapless story,— Sweet pink,—and violent pale! No more disporting hither, thither, His lightsome wing shall pass— Mourn, mountain daisy,—purple heather,— Wild thyme,—and vernal grass! Ah, life to him was never dreary! His fav'rite flow'r beside, Only of bloom and fragrance weary, In the warm sun he died. This may I yield life's fleeting hours, Calm as a summer wave,— And memory, like the breath of flow'rs, Thus linger round my grave.
Wells, anna maria. “To a Dead Butterfly in a Flower Garden.” in The Juvenile Souvenir. Boston: Marsh & Caper, 1830.
Contexts
“To a Dead Butterfly in a Flower Garden” was published in The Juvenile Souvenir, which was a collection made by the editor of The Juvenile Miscellany, a bimonthly children’s magazine. The magazine emphasized middle-class Protestant values and included stories, poems, articles, and puzzles.
From the Cooper Hewitt Museum painting description for the above image: Horizontal view of woman in profile, holding a fan in her right hand and sitting in a folding chair on a shaded spot of lawn; tree foliage in background. She gazes down on a butterfly resting on the back of her left hand; another butterfly flits above the lawn near the left edge of picture.
