The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-06-15
Lines to Morpho sulkowskyi, . Colombian
Butterfly.


Butterfly.
II record no more than what see
OF magic brilliance on these gorgeous
wings,
The tale Is sure to seem extravagant,
The words too lavish that would catch
such hues.
Yet has this ponip OF iridescent nres
80 thralied my eladdened gaze from day
to day.
DsfyinE sullen skies and dresry moods.
That I must praise its marvsls as 1 can.
And no perhaps disperse another's gloom
Tho while tell my thanks to Ono whose
hand
Adorned these pinions with supernsl light
Here then beneath . square of glass out
spread.
Their fragile tissues smoothed on cotton
down,
The butternys unfading vans display
The tewelied biazonry that nuttsrsd once
Through forest coverts of Colombia
But FIRST see how the casket, held too nat
Reveals no hint of all Its loveliness.-
The wings are mere dull 6lms of toneless
bun.
Like withered petals OF . peony.
or sere. frail scallops OF old faded silk,
United by the insects shrivelied corpse.
One would declare no lustre could revive
On such forlorn bleached relics of bright
realms.
Poor brittle leaves blown from the tree of
lifse
But now. behold tho miracle! A turn
So slight the wrist scarce registers the
change,
Brings auroral shimmerinE OF roseate
mauve
~.
To dawn like winter sunrise on pale SHOWS
Across tho ashen winEsi Then hyacinth
Infuses richer stain; then RANT blue
OF tropic skies. and nawless sapphire
sleam.
Are kindled on the slowly shifted vans.
Now change their angle full against the
day.
And see across tho glowing puppies fash
Such dazzling shafts of opalescent green.
OF nacreous beryS. and fierce chrysoprass.
As smite tho eyes with blazing emerald
noon
That bursts In marvel on that violet
dawn
o glory OF sheer naked leap Of light
o mystic birth of color from the void!--
From what sxhaustiess fonts your splen-
doris Eush,
To dreneh these frail Aims with your ma
Jes.yi
But now again the fingers turn ;he case
In sharper angle, I'LL refulEent green's
Break into splintered tremors OF thin name,
To play In freely lustre through the glow
OF creeping turquoise twilight on these
wings:
Then tender evening blue, ana lilac sheen,
Merge Into afterEleam OF heliotrope.-
Then, 10. the radiance rs soneI No trace
OF all the FURNISHED paseantry survives.
The pallid membranes are bereft again
or Gre and magic. and spread sere and
dead.
Awaiting the renewal OF their slumberins
And now II psyche be a name for soul,
Ny butterfly a type OF inner truth.
Shall not look for spiendor on those lives
That seem at hrst but dull and saliow
drift
Their wings of hope and passion mere wan
flms?-
Yet ali, go glorious In tho rays of love,
And of the outer world itself what hint
These wondrous opal rinIons must bestow,
To tell tho secret of the hidden fame
That trenbles to be born on common
things:
The apocalypse of b.auty's tameIsss nres
That kindls jeweiied dawns on sombre
hills!
SO while sad voices cry that life 10 gray,
And lovelinsss has faded from the earth,
All. turn tho wings a little toward the
light,
Until they take the glamour OF bright truth
And fash like plumes of an archanEers
flight
Emblazoned with the morning si.nc, OF
God
ELIOT WHITE