The Butterfly

Pretty vagrant of the air,
Emblem of the thoughtless fair:
Near akin their life and thine,
Both a fleeting summer shine.
Short delight your charms impart,
Charms to catch the human heart:
Hearts that can be caught with show,
The virtuoso or the beau.
Thoughtless nymphs are butterflies,
Different species, larger size;
Strangers both to needful care,
Fluttering, roving here and there;
Basking in the vernal ray,
Trifling out the summer's clay:
Summer's day, from youth to age,
Trifles all their cares engage:
But when wintry storms arise,
Beauty fades, and pleasure dies.

Me let nobler cares employ,
Cares which terminate in joy.
Ere the summer sunbeams flee.
Let me, like the frugal bee,
Well improve the smiling hour,
Gathering sweets from every flower.

O may virtue's charms be mine,
Charms that still increasing shine!
These will cheer the wintry gloom,
These will last beyond the tomb.