Menella Bute Smedley (Менелла Бьют Смедли)
A Birthday Petition to a Butterfly
Everybody must kiss me! It is my birthday to-day; Soon, very soon they will miss me, So I can't linger to play. But I ran out for a minute, One little kiss to implore; Butterfly, once you begin it, Maybe you'll ask me for more! With all the blossoms coquetting, Just at the close of the day, You disappear at sunsetting; Where do you flutter away? Somebody made the suggestion, Up to the stars you had flown; Butterfly, answer my question, Have you a star of your own? Oft have I search'd for your dwelling, And when I've seen you at rest, Fancied the rose you were smelling Might be a butterfly's nest. Pray do you sleep with your dress on? Have you your bed in a star? (Do you believe, with my lesson, That they are ever so far?) Long for my birthday I've waited, All of a sudden it's here! Then I am petted and fêted One royal day in the year! Lessons no more are imparted, Pleasure each moment must bring; No one is half so hard-hearted As to refuse me a thing! Butterfly, you owe me duty, Long have I waited for this; Come in, you glittering beauty, Give me a sweet little kiss. Nobody dares to distress me; You must be amiable too— Butterfly, come and caress me, I'll never tell if you do!
Menella Bute Smedley’s other poems:
- Wooden Legs
- A Meeting
- The Story of Queen Isabel
- The Little White Doe
- An Anniversary (On the seventh of September, two little years gone by)
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