The Modern PoetFor your words and others.
Release 15
Always tinkering.

I use this place too. I keep finding things to add, change, or make a little better.

Latest check: 1,242 passed. Regular checks, ongoing improvements.

This round: quieter reading, book-style chapters, and one HH throughout.

THE MODERN POET

Verses on a Butterfly

By Joseph Warton

Fair Child of Sun and Summer! we behold With eager eyes thy wings bedropp'd with gold; The purple spots that o'er thy mantle spread, The sapphire's lively blue, the ruby's red, Ten thousand various blended tints surprise, Beyond the rainbow's hues or peacock's eyes: Not Judah's king in eastern pomp array'd, Whose charms allur'd from far the Sheban maid, High on his glitt'ring throne, like you could shine (Nature's completest miniature divine): For thee the rose her balmy buds renews, And silver lilies fill their cups with dews; Flora for thee the laughing fields perfumes, For thee Pomona sheds her choicest blooms, Soft Zephyr wafts thee on his gentlest gales O'er Hackwood's sunny hill and verdant vales; For thee, gay queen of insects! do we rove From walk to walk, from beauteous grove to grove; And let the critics know, whose pedant pride And awkward jests our sprightly sport deride: That all who honours, fame, or wealth pursue, Change but the name of things--they hunt for you.

Original source ↗

Poetry data from PoetryDB, curated by The Combed Thunderclap · metadata CC BY 4.0 · Public-domain poem text (USA)

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Box one belongs to works shared here—pictures, poems, or both—with a new selection each hour. The other three change one at a time every fifteen minutes. One is a Halloween poem through October. Skip any card, or pause while you read.

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