Poems (Jordan)/To a Butterfly
For works with similar titles, see To a Butterfly.
TO A BUTTERFLY
With soft wings closed in the frame of a worm;Trailing in dust Heaven's Time cradled germ,God's perfect purpose hath measured the term Of thy bondage to toil and night;Binous creature! chambered in mystic cellThy life's past and future did'st briefly dwell,While upon them was wrought the priestly spell, Making one their Death-riven light
And thou—incarnate Immortality!Brilliant, moving, tangible Mystery!Blessed, ungainsayable Prophecy!— Hast doffed the tombing chrysalis,And ris'n a color-clothed blossom of air,Floating free in the space 'twixt Here and There,To, by thy eloquent presence, declare A loftier, happier World than this!
God ordained, nationless preacher of Truth—Attired for thy holy office, forsooth,In garments which signify endless youth, And a more congenial clime—Our minds, imprisoned 1n bodies, here;Our spirits, cramped in Earth's limited sphere,Hail with great gladness the word thou dost bear, Of the Life op'ning out of Time!