The Butterflies
John Joy
Bell
Bell, John Joy
Metadata research and editing
DVPP Project Team
Fralick
Kaitlyn
University of Victoria Digital Victorian Periodical Poetry Project
Victoria, BC, Canada
In the public domain
Poem signed J. J. Bell.
Chambers’s Journal ledger indicates that Bell was paid 10s 6d for the poem (NLS Dep 341/371). (AC)
Chambers’s Edinburgh Journal
6
3
134
480
The butterflies, like pansies,
freed
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The Butterflie
s.
The butterflies, like pansies,
freed
From earthy ties, make airy sport ;
They dally with the wistful weed,
Or to the meadow-queen pay court.
The butterflies—like thoughts of mine,
Forgetful of their lowly birth—
Are brave in all the summer shine
And merry in the moment’s mirth.
The butterflies and I must go.
Ah, well ! To-day has yet to pass ;
And we are quite content to know
The blue skies and the sunny grass.
J. J. Bell.