Butterfly Poems and sayings - an assortment of poems about butterflies (2024)

Love Butterflies?

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Love is like a butterfly: It goes where it pleases and it pleases wherever it goes. ~Author Unknown

An Irish Blessing

May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun.
And find your shoulder to light on.
To bring you luck, happiness and riches.
Today, tomorrow and beyond.

One Day Butterfly

Aren’t we all one-day butterflies,
not aware of time.
Searching for partners or honey
until Death kisses us.
Then in his arms, tenderly rocked,
waiting for a new chance
to fly away again
and join the dance
of the one-day butterfly

A Chrysalis

My little Mädchen found one day
A curious something in her play,
That was not fruit, nor flower, nor seed;
It was not anything that grew,
Or crept, or climbed, or swam, or flew;
Had neither legs nor wings, indeed;
And yet she was not sure, she said,
Whether it was alive or dead.

She brought it in her tiny hand
To see if I would understand,
And wondered when I made reply,
“You’ve found a baby butterfly.”
“A butterfly is not like this,”
With doubtful look she answered me.
So then I told her what would be
Some day within the chrysalis;
How, slowly, in the dull brown thing
Now still as death, a spotted wing,
And then another, would unfold,
Till from the empty shell would fly
A pretty creature, by and by,
All radiant in blue and gold.

“And will it, truly?” questioned she—
Her laughing lips and eager eyes
All in a sparkle of surprise
“And shall your little Mädchen see?”
“She shall!” I said. How could I tell
That ere the worm within its shell
Its gauzy, splendid wings had spread,
My little Mädchen would be dead?

To-day the butterfly has flown,—
She was not here to see it fly,—
And sorrowing I wonder why
The empty shell is mine alone.
Perhaps the secret lies in this:
I too had found a chrysalis,
And Death that robbed me of delight
Was but the radiant creature’s flight!

By Mary Emily Bradley. Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

After Wings

This was your butterfly, you see,
His fine wings made him vain:
The caterpillars crawl, but he
Passed them in rich disdain.
My pretty boy says, “Let him be
Only a worm again!”

O child, when things have learned to wear
Wings once, they must be fain
To keep them always high and fair:
Think of the creeping pain
Which even a butterfly must bear
To be a worm again!

By Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt. Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

Easter

The air is like a butterfly
With frail blue wings.
The happy earth looks at the sky
And sings.

From Cocoon forth a Butterfly

From cocoon forth a butterfly
As lady from her door
Emerged—a summer afternoon—
Repairing everywhere,

Without design, that I could trace,
Except to stray abroad
On miscellaneous enterprise
The clovers understood.

Her pretty parasol was seen
Contracting in a field
Where men made hay, then struggling hard
With an opposing cloud,

Where parties, phantom as herself,
To Nowhere seemed to go
In purposeless circumference,
As ’t were a tropic show.

And not withstanding bee that worked,
And flower that zealous blew,
This audience of idleness
Disdained them, from the sky,

Till sundown crept, a steady tide,
And men that made the hay,
And afternoon, and butterfly,
Extinguished in its sea.

Emily Dickinson (1830–86). Complete Poems. 1924.

Mariposa

Butterflies are white and blue
In this field we wander through.
Suffer me to take your hand.
Death comes in a day or two.

All the things we ever knew
Will be ashes in that hour,
Mark the transient butterfly,
How he hangs upon the flower.

Suffer me to take your hand.
Suffer me to cherish you
Till the dawn is in the sky.
Whether I be false or true,
Death comes in a day or two.

Poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay
Second April.

Ode to a butterfly

Thou spark of life that wavest wings of gold,
Thou songless wanderer mid the songful birds,
With Nature’s secrets in thy tints unrolled
Through gorgeous cipher, past the reach of words,
Yet dear to every child
In glad pursuit beguiled,
Living his unspoiled days mid flowers and flocks and herds!

Thou winged blossom, liberated thing,
What secret tie binds thee to other flowers,
Still held within the garden’s fostering?
Will they too soar with the completed hours,
Take flight, and be like thee
Irrevocably free,
Hovering at will o’er their parental bowers?

Or is thy lustre drawn from heavenly hues,
A sumptuous drifting fragment of the sky,
Caught when the sunset its last glance imbues
With sudden splendor, and the tree-tops high
Grasp that swift blazonry,
Then lend those tints to thee,
On thee to float a few short hours, and die?

Birds have their nests; they rear their eager young,
And flit on errands all the livelong day;
Each fieldmouse keeps the homestead whence it sprung;
But thou art Nature’s freeman,—free to stray Unfettered through the wood,
Seeking thine airy food,
The sweetness spiced on every blossomed spray.

The garden one wide banquet spreads for thee,
O daintiest reveller of the joyous earth!
One drop of honey gives satiety;
A second draught would drug thee past all mirth.
Thy feast no orgy shows;
Thy calm eyes never close,
Thou soberest sprite to which the sun gives birth.

And yet the soul of man upon thy wings
Forever soars in aspiration; thou
His emblem of the new career that springs
When death’s arrest bids all his spirit bow.
He seeks his hope in thee
Of immortality.
Symbol of life, me with such faith endow!

By Thomas Wentworth Higginson. Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

The butterfly

I am not what I was yesterday,
God knows my name.
I am made in a smooth and beautiful way,
And full of flame.

The color of corn are my pretty wings,
My flower is blue.
I kiss its topmost pearl, it swings
And I swing too.

I dance above the tawny grass
In the sunny air,
So tantalized to have to pass
Love everywhere

O Earth, O Sky, you are mine to roam
In liberty.
I am the soul and I have no home,
Take care of me.

For double I drift through a double world
Of spirit and sense;
I and my symbol together whirled
From who knows whence?

There ’s a tiny weed, God knows what good,—
It sits in the moss.
Its wings are heavy and spotted with blood
Across and across.

I sometimes settle a moment there,
And I am so sweet,
That what it lacks of the glad and fair
I fill complete.

The little white moon was once like me;
But her wings are one.
Or perhaps they closëd together be
As she swings in the sun.

When the clovers close their three green wings
Just as I do,
I creep to the primrose heart of things,
And close mine, too.

And then wide opens the candid night,
Serene and intense;
For she has, instead of love and light,
God’s confidence.

And I watch that other butterfly,
The one-winged moon,
Till, drunk with sweets in which I lie,
I dream and swoon.

And then when I to three days grow,
I find out pain.
For swift there comes an ache,—I know
That I am twain.

And nevermore can I be one
In liberty.
O Earth, O Sky, your use in done,
Take care of me.

By Alice Archer (Sewall) James. Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

The example

Here’s an example from
A Butterfly;
That on a rough, hard rock
Happy can lie;
Friendless and all alone
On this unsweetened stone.

Now let my bed be hard,
No care take I;
I’ll make my joy like this
Small Butterfly;
Whose happy heart has power
To make a stone a flower.

By William H. Davies. Louis Untermeyer, ed. (1885–1977). Modern British Poetry. 1920.

To a butterfly

I’ve watched you now a full half-hour;
Self-poised upon that yellow flower
And, little Butterfly! indeed
I know not if you sleep or feed.
How motionless!–not frozen seas
More motionless! and then
What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Hath found you out among the trees,
And calls you forth again!

This plot of orchard-ground is ours;
My trees they are, my Sister’s flowers;
Here rest your wings when they are weary;
Here lodge as in a sanctuary!
Come often to us, fear no wrong;
Sit near us on the bough!
We’ll talk of sunshine and of song,
And summer days, when we were young;
Sweet childish days, that were as long
As twenty days are now.

Written in the orchard, Town-end, Grasmere.

Two butterflies went out at noon

Two butterflies went out at noon
And waltzed above a stream,
Then stepped straight through the firmament
And rested on a beam;

And then together bore away
Upon a shining sea,
Though never yet, in any port,
Their coming mentioned be.

If spoken by the distant bird,
If met in ether sea
By frigate or by merchantman,
Report was not to me.

Emily Dickinson (1830–86). Complete Poems. 1924.

~~~~~~~~~

“Literature and butterflies are the two sweetest passions known to man.”
Vladimir Nabokov

~~~~~~~~~
May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun.
And find your shoulder to light on.
To bring you luck, happiness, and riches.
Today, tomorrow, and beyond.

~~~~~~~~~

On the wings of the tiniest earth angels,
may the spirit of those that we mourn today be remembered
and may this be the start of healing for all.

~~~~~~~~~

Learn to Fly

Written by Larry James

Like a butterfly emerges
And unfolds its graceful wings,
A marriage grows and it develops
With the love each partner brings.
Your flight through life together
Is what you make it, so reach high
Spread your wings and learn to soar
As if with wings of a butterfly
Share together life’s great adventure
Now the two of you are one
Shower your lover with butterfly kisses
Your infinite journey has just begun
Be a lover, friend and playmate
Learn to listen, laugh and cry
God has given you your wings,
But, you teach each other how to fly.

You’re My Butterfly

Your are the most beautiful thing
I’ve ever seen
You shine just like sunlight rays
On a winter snow
I just had to tell you so

Your eyes sparkle as the stars
Like the moon they glow
Your smile could light the world on fire
Or did you know?

Your minds full of everything
That I want to know
I just had to let you know
I just had to tell you so
Your’re my butterfly
Fly high
Fly fly fly

Lyrics/Song – Lenny Kravitz

A Butterfly Hovers Closely

A butterfly hovers closely
And then quickly moves away,
Swiftly going where so ever
Her heart may freely say.

A butterfly lowers and rises
With the winds’s gusty breath,
As if coupled within a dance
Of a loving tenderness.

The butterfly only knows
How it feels to have wings,
To kiss the petals of flowers
In such elegant flitterings.

To have but one moment
Of such an exquisite flight,
Would be like a dream
Where all seems so right.

Author Unknown

Butterflies

Butterflies go fluttering by
On colored wings that catch the eye.
On wings of orange, and silvery blue,
On wings of golden yellow, too.
Butterflies float in the air,
Making their homes most anywhere:
The rainforest, field, and prairie land,
On mountaintops, and desert sand.
If winter brings the cold and snow,
To warmer climates, off they go!
Returning home the following spring,
Beautiful butterflies on the wing!

Author Unknown

A Butterfly Lights Beside Us

A butterfly lights beside us, like a sunbeam…
and for a brief moment it’s glory
and beauty belong to our world…
but then it flies on again, and although
we wish it could have stayed,
we are so thankful to have seen it at all.

Author Unknown

Butterfly

Flutter by,
Butterfly,
Floating flower
in the sky.
Kiss me with your
Petal wings—
Whisper secrets,
Tell of spring.

Author Unknown

Butterfly Wishes

Yesterday a butterfly
Came floating gently through the sky.
He soared up through the atmosphere
Then drifted close enough to hear.

I said, “I’d love to fly with you
And sail around the way you do.
It looks like it would be such fun
To fly up toward the summer sun.

But I have not your graceful charm.
I haven’t wings, just these two arms.
I’ve been designed to walk around.
My human feet must touch the ground.

Then magically he spoke to me
and told me what his wish would be.

He said, “What I’d love most to do
Is walk upon God’s Earth with you,
To squish it’s mud between my toes
Or touch my finger to my nose.

I’d love just once to walk around
With human feet to touch the ground,
But I have not two legs that swing,
I haven’t arms, just these two wings.”

And so we went our separate ways
In wonder and surprise.
For we’d both seen God’s precious gifts
Through someone else’s eyes.

Author Unknown

Butterflies, Oh, Butterflies

Butterflies, Oh, Butterflies,
Your beauty is so rare.

Butterflies, Oh, butterflies,
How could anyone dare.
to catch you and to hold you
against your solemn will?
They should just admire you
and let you have your fill.
of flitting here and flitting there,
gathering up your daily fare
of nectars from the flowers bright,
from early morning until night.

Butterflies, beautiful butterflies,
with so many colours rare,
it hurts my heart when one dies,
Yet, does anyone truly care?

For butterflies, butterflies,
you represent new birth,
from chrysalis until you die,
you beautify the earth.

thank you, lovely butterflies.

Author Unknown

Butterfly In The Wind Poem

A child is……..

A butterfly in the wind,
Some can fly higher than others;
but each one flies the best it can.
Why compare one against the other?

Each one is different!
Each one is special!
Each one is beautiful!

Author Unknown

Legend of the Butterfly

Once as a child many years ago…
on a balmy summer’s eve.
I sat in the yard at my Mother’s side…
and a butterfly lit at my sleeve.

“It’s a sign of good luck”, my Mother said.
As the butterfly stayed at my arm…
“It’s a symbol of all the beauty in life.
Make sure you do it no harm.”

First butterflies are eggs and after they hatch…
they see that their life’s just beginning.
They’re content with their lot in life,
so, they go out on a limb and start spinning.

They stay out awhile in a magic cocoon….
then emerge like flowers in spring.
Then they share the story of their victory and success…
through each of the colors of their wings.

The gold in their wings is the”Golden Rule”…
To follow that is a must.
The blue….That means true blue.
Always be someone people can trust.

The green of the tip of their wing
is saying Stay green, and you’ll always grow.
The silver is the lining in the clouds of doubt…
that you must look for as you go through life.

Butterflies bend with the wind, it’s true.
Still they get where they want to go.
They arrive by persistence through their own insistence…
A lesson more people should know.

Sought and valued by the whole human race…
For their beauty, tenacity and charm.
If a butterfly ever chances to stay at your sleeve…
remember, my friend, don’t fight it, but,
learn all you can from the butterfly clan.
And you too, may become a rare item.

Author Unknown

An Indian Butterfly Legend

If anyone desires a wish to come true they must
capture a butterfly and whisper that wish to it.

Since they make no sound, they can’t tell the wish
to anyone but the Great Spirit.

So by making the wish and releasing the butterfly
it will be taken to the heavens and be granted.

Author Unknown

An Irish Blessing

May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun.
And find your shoulder to light on.
To bring you luck, happiness and riches.
Today, tomorrow and beyond.

A Butterfly Hovers Closely

A butterfly hovers closely
And then quickly moves away,
Swiftly going wheresoever
Her heart may freely say.

A butterfly lowers and rises
With the wind’s gusty breath,
As if coupled within a dance
Of a loving tenderness.

The butterfly only knows
How it feels to have wings,
To kiss the petals of flowers
In such elegant flitterings.

To have but one moment
Of such an esquisite flight,
Would be like a dream
Where all seems so right.

Author Unknown

A Symbol of Love

A butterfly lights beside us like a sunbeam
and for a brief moment, its glory and beauty
belong to our world.

But then it flies again,
And though we wish it could have stayed…
We feel lucky to have seen it.

Author Unknown

Butterfly Quotes

“Love is like a butterfly,
it goes where it pleases
and it pleases wherever it goes”.

Love is like a butterfly,
hold it too tight, it’ll crush,

hold it too loose, it’ll fly.

Author Unknown

~~~~~~~~~
If nothing ever changed, there’d be no butterflies.

Author Unknown

~~~~~~~~~
You can chase a butterfly all over the field and never catch it. But if you sit quietly in the grass it will come and sit on your shoulder.

Author Unknown

~~~~~~~~~

The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.

~Rabindranath Tagore

~~~~~~~~~

May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun And find your shoulder to light on, To bring you luck, happiness and riches Today, tomorrow and beyond.

~Irish Blessing

~~~~~~~~~

Butterflies are self propelled flowers.

~R.H. Heinlein

~~~~~~~~~

If nothing ever changed, there’d be no butterflies.

~Author Unknown

~~~~~~~~~

The caterpillar does all the work but the butterfly gets all the publicity.

~Attributed to George Carlin

~~~~~~~~~

What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a

butterfly.

~Richard Bach

~~~~~~~~~

But these are flowers that fly and all but sing:

And now from having ridden out desire

They lie closed over in the wind and cling

Where wheels have freshly sliced the April mire.

~Robert Frost, “Blue-Butterfly Day”

~~~~~~~~~

I saw a poet chase a butterfly in a meadow. He put his net on a bench

where a boy sat reading a book. It’s a misfortune that it is usually

the other way round.

~Karl Kraus

~~~~~~~~~

The butterfly is a flying flower,

The flower a tethered butterfly.

~Ponce Denis Écouchard Lebrun

~~~~~~~~~

Beautiful and graceful, varied and enchanting, small but approachable,

butterflies lead you to the sunny side of life. And everyone deserves a

little sunshine.

~Jeffrey Glassberg

~~~~~~~~~

Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your

grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.

~Nathaniel Hawthorne

~~~~~~~~~

There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a

butterfly.

~Richard Buckminster Fuller

~~~~~~~~~

They seemed to come suddenly upon happiness as if they had surprised a

butterfly in the winter woods.

~Edith Wharton

~~~~~~~~~

With the rose the butterfly’s deep in love,

A thousand times hovering round;

But round himself, all tender like gold,

The sun’s sweet ray is hovering found.

~Heinrich Heine, “New Spring”

~~~~~~~~~~

“Just living is not enough,” said the butterfly, “one must have

sunshine, freedom and a little flower.”

~Hans Christian Anderson

~~~~~~~~~~

Love is like a butterfly: It goes where it pleases and it pleases

wherever it goes.

~Author Unknown

~~~~~~~~~~

I’ve watched you now a full half-hour;

Self-poised upon that yellow flower

And, little Butterfly! Indeed

I know not if you sleep or feed.

How motionless! – not frozen seas

More motionless! and then

What joy awaits you, when the breeze

Hath found you out among the trees,

And calls you forth again!

~William Wordsworth, “To a Butterfly”

~~~~~~~~~

I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free.

~Charles Dickens

~~~~~~~~~

The butterfly’s attractiveness derives not only from colors and

symmetry: deeper motives contribute to it. We would not think them so

beautiful if they did not fly, or if they flew straight and briskly like

bees, or if they stung, or above all if they did not enact the

perturbing mystery of metamorphosis: the latter assumes in our eyes the

value of a badly decoded message, a symbol, a sign.

~Primo Levi

~~~~~~~~~

And what’s a butterfly? At best,

He’s but a caterpillar, at rest.

~John Grey

~~~~~~~~~

Flowers and butterflies drift in color, illuminating spring.

~Author Unknown

~~~~~~~~~

We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever.

~Carl Sagan

~~~~~~~~~

This great purple butterfly,

In the prison of my hands,

Has a learning in his eye

Not a poor fool understands.

~William Butler Yeats, “Another Song of a Fool”

~~~~~~~~~

[N]ot quite birds, as they were not quite flowers, mysterious and

fascinating as are all indeterminate creatures.

~Elizabeth Goudge

~~~~~~~~~

The butterfly, a cabbage-white,

(His honest idiocy of flight)

Will never now, it is too late,

Master the art of flying straight.

~Robert Graves, “Flying Crooked”

~~~~~~~~~

Know thyself! A maxim as pernicious as it is ugly. Whoever observes

himself arrests his own development. A caterpillar who wanted to know

itself well would never become a butterfly.

~Andre Gide

~~~~~~~~~~

Do ye not comprehend that we are worms,

Born to bring forth the angelic butterfly

That flieth unto judgment without screen?

~Dante Alighieri

~~~~~~~~~

Bees sip honey from flowers and hum their thanks when they leave.

The gaudy butterfly is sure that the flowers owe thanks to him.

~Rabindranath Tagore, /Stray Birds/

~~~~~~~~~

We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes

it has gone through to achieve that beauty.

~Maya Angelou

~~~~~~~~~

The fluttering of a butterfly’s wings can effect climate changes on the

other side of the planet.

~Paul Erlich

~~~~~~~~~

And the case of butterflies so rich it looks

As if all summer settled there and died.

~Philip Larkin, “Autumn”

~~~~~~~~~

Once I read a story about a butterfly in the subway, and today, I saw

one. It got on at 42nd, and off at 59th, where, I assume it was going

to Bloomingdales to buy a hat that will turn out to be a mistake – as

almost all hats are.

~Nikolaus Laszlo, Nora Ephron, and Delia Ephron,

~~~~~~~~~

A million butterflies rose up from South America,

All together, and flew in a gold storm toward Spain…

~Winfield Townley Scott, “Annual Legend”

~~~~~~~~~

In nature a repulsive caterpillar turns into a lovely butterfly. But

with humans it is the other way around: a lovely butterfly turns into a

repulsive caterpillar.

~Anton Chekhov

~~~~~~~~~

Gray sail against the sky,

Gray butterfly!

Have you a dream for going.

Or are you the blind wind’s blowing?

~Dana Burnet, “A Sail at Twilight”

~~~~~~~~~

The paired butterflies are already yellow with August

Over the grass in the West garden;

They hurt me. I grow older.

~Li Po

~~~~~~~~~

This magnificent butterfly finds a little heap of dirt and sits still on

it; but man will never on his heap of mud keep still.

~Joseph Conrad

~~~~~~~~~

Just like the butterfly, I too will awaken in my own time.

~Deborah Chaskin

~~~~~~~~~

Women, don’t get a tattoo. That butterfly looks great on your breast

when you’re twenty or thirty, but when you get to seventy, it stretches

into a condor.

~Billy Elmer

~~~~~~~~~

Where have those flowers and butterflies all gone

That science may have staked the future on?

He seems to say the reason why so much

Should come to nothing must be fairly faced.

~Robert Frost, “Pod of the Milkweed”

~~~~~~~~~

As for butterflies, I can hardly conceive of one’s attending upon you;

but to question the congruence of the complement is vain, if it exists.

~Marianne Moore, “To a Steam Roller”

~~~~~~~~~

We must remain as close to the flowers, the grass, and the butterflies

as the child is who is not yet so much taller than they are. We adults,

on the other hand, have outgrown them and have to lower ourselves to

stoop down to them. It seems to me that the grass hates us when we

confess our love for it. Whoever would partake of all good things must

understand how to be small at times.

~Friedrich Nietzsche

~~~~~~~~~

The tulip and the butterfly

Appear in gayer coats than I:

Let me be dressed fine as I will,

Flies, worms, and flowers exceed me still.

~Isaac Watts

~~~~~~~~~

We are closer to the ants than to butterflies. Very few people can

endure much leisure.

~Gerald Brenan

~~~~~~~~~

Nerves and butterflies are fine – they’re a physical sign that you’re

mentally ready and eager. You have to get the butterflies to fly in

formation, that’s the trick.

~Steve Bull

~~~~~~~~~

The least thing upset him on the links. He missed short putts because

of the uproar of butterflies in the adjoining meadows.

~P.G. Wodehouse

~~~~~~~~~

Grown-ups love figures. When you tell them that you have made a new

friend, they never ask you any questions about essential matters. They

never say to you, “What does his voice sound like? What games does he

love best? Does he collect butterflies?” Instead, they demand: “How

old is he? How many brothers has he? How much does he weigh? How much

money does his father make?” Only from these figures do they think they

have learned anything about him.

~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, /The Little

Prince/, 1943, translated from French

~~~~~~~~~

It is necessary to write, if the days are not to slip emptily by. How

else, indeed, to clap the net over the butterfly of the moment? For the

moment passes, it is forgotten; the mood is gone; life itself is gone.

That is where the writer scores over his fellows: he catches the

changes of his mind on the hop.

~Vita Sackville-West

~~~~~~~~~

I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or

whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man.

~Chuang Tzu

~~~~~~~~~

Often in life what appears to be an ending is really a glorious new beginning”.

Butterflies are self propelled flowers.

~R.H. Heinlein

~~~~~~~~~

If nothing ever changed, there’d be no butterflies.

~Author Unknown

~~~~~~~~~

The caterpillar does all the work but the butterfly gets all the publicity.

~Attributed to George Carlin

~~~~~~~~~

What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.

~Richard Bach

~~~~~~~~~

“Blue-Butterfly Day”

But these are flowers that fly and all but sing:
And now from having ridden out desire
They lie closed over in the wind and cling
Where wheels have freshly sliced the April mire.

~Robert Frost,

~~~~~~~~~

I saw a poet chase a butterfly in a meadow. He put his net on a bench
where a boy sat reading a book. It’s a misfortune that it is usually
the other way round.

~Karl Kraus

~~~~~~~~~

The butterfly is a flying flower,
The flower a tethered butterfly.

~Ponce Denis Écouchard Lebrun

~~~~~~~~~

Beautiful and graceful, varied and enchanting, small but approachable,
butterflies lead you to the sunny side of life.
And everyone deserves a little sunshine.

~Jeffrey Glassberg

~~~~~~~~~

Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your
grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.

~Nathaniel Hawthorne

~~~~~~~~~

There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly.

~Richard Buckminster Fuller

~~~~~~~~~

“New Spring”

With the rose the butterfly’s deep in love,
A thousand times hovering round;
But round himself, all tender like gold,
The sun’s sweet ray is hovering found.

~Heinrich Heine,

~~~~~~~~~

“Just living is not enough,” said the butterfly, “one must have
sunshine, freedom and a little flower.”

~Hans Christian Anderson

~~~~~~~~~

Love is like a butterfly: It goes where it pleases and it pleases
wherever it goes.

~Author Unknown

~~~~~~~~~

“To a Butterfly”

I’ve watched you now a full half-hour;
Self-poised upon that yellow flower
And, little Butterfly! Indeed
I know not if you sleep or feed

How motionless! – not frozen seas
More motionless! and then
What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Hath found you out among the trees,
And calls you forth again!

~William Wordsworth,

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I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free.

~Charles Dickens

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The butterfly’s attractiveness derives not only from colors and
symmetry: deeper motives contribute to it. We would not think them so
beautiful if they did not fly, or if they flew straight and briskly like
bees, or if they stung, or above all if they did not enact the
perturbing mystery of metamorphosis: the latter assumes in our eyes the
value of a decoded message, a symbol, a sign.

~Primo Levi

~~~~~~~~~

And what’s a butterfly? At best,
He’s but a caterpillar, at rest.

~John Grey

~~~~~~~~~

Flowers and butterflies drift in color, illuminating spring.

~Author Unknown

~~~~~~~~~

Not quite birds, as they were not quite flowers, mysterious and
fascinating as are all indeterminate creatures.

~Elizabeth Goudge

~~~~~~~~~

Know thyself! A maxim as pernicious as it is ugly. Whoever observes
himself arrests his own development. A caterpillar who wanted to know
itself well would never become a butterfly.

~Andre Gide

~~~~~~~~~

Bees sip honey from flowers and hum their thanks when they leave.
The gaudy butterfly is sure that the flowers owe thanks to him.

~Rabindranath Tagore, /Stray Birds/

~~~~~~~~~~

We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes
it has gone through to achieve that beauty.

~Maya Angelou

~~~~~~~~~

Just like the butterfly, I too will awaken in my own time.

~Deborah Chaskin

~~~~~~~~~