Poems Every Child Should Know by  Mary E. Burt

The Butterfly and the Bee

"The Butterfly and the Bee," by William Lisle Bowles (1762-1850), is recommended by some school-girls. It carries a lesson in favour of the worker.

Methought I heard a butterfly

Say to a labouring bee:

"Thou hast no colours of the sky

On painted wings like me."


"Poor child of vanity! those dyes,

And colours bright and rare,"

With mild reproof, the bee replies,

"Are all beneath my care.


"Content I toil from morn to eve,

And scorning idleness,

To tribes of gaudy sloth I leave

The vanity of dress."


William Lisle Bowles.


 Table of Contents  |  Index  |  Home  | Previous: Little Billee  |  Next: An Incident of the French Camp
Copyright (c) 2005 - 2023   Yesterday's Classics, LLC. All Rights Reserved.