St. Beatenberg

It seemed as if all butterflies that flew,
        By some attractive fragrance in the air
        Too subtle for man’s finding, settled there;
The scarlet-ounced Apollo came to view
His mate more beauteous in her bridal hue;
        Thither fritillaries floated large and fair
        Like burnished bronze, and wings shone every-
            where,
That made the grass to blossom violet-blue.

And thither golden-green the beetles came,
    With fragile things of emerald gauze and light,
        That rested till some sudden ecstasy
        Caught them and cast them sunward;—ah!
            thought I,
These all are lovers, followers of one flame,
    Their day how brief, how glad, they fear no night!

(Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy, p. 114)