I came across a vision once while wandering in a wood,
A veritable feast for my eyes,
The ground it was invisible and in its place there stood,
A quivering carpet of butterflies.

Gold spots on gossamer, stripes on red and yellow,
I stepped with all the caution I could muster,
It wouldn’t do to wound a single colour of that rainbow,
Or disturb a single member of that cluster.

For they fluttered to and fro, busy in their industry,
A living proof of nature’s peaceful plan,
No quarrel or complaint rent that airy colony,
A lesson worth its weight in gold for any man.