HIT: Even MORE Butterfly poetry, etc

[Jody Newman <newmanj@meol.mass.edu>]

Hi

Things keep pouring in. My teacher again wants to thank one and all
for all this wonderful input!

Enjoy

Jody Newman
Library Aide
Center School
Stow MA
newmanj@meol.mass.edu
***********************

Butterfly by Ben Franklin
What is a butterfly?
At best
Heıs but a caterpillar
Dressed.

Quoted from _Flit, Flutter, Fly_ poems about bugs and other crawly
creatures selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins . Doubleday 1992, p.24

White butterflies by Algerson Charles Swinburne
Fly, white butterflies, out to sea,
Frail, pale wings for the wind to try,
Small white wings that we scarce can see,
 Fly,
Some fly light as a laugh of glee,
Some fly soft as a long , low sigh;
All to the haven where each would be,
 Fly,


Butterfly  by John Banister Tabb
Butterfly, Butterfly, sipping the sand,
Have you forgotten the flowers of the land?
Or are you so sated with honey and dew
That sand-filtered water tastes better to you?

Quoted from _Under the Tent of the Sky _ a collection of poems about
animals large and small selected by John E. Brewton. Macmillan 1954
p.99

Butterflies by Moritake
Fallen petals rise
 back to the branch - I watch:
  o  .. Butterflies

Cocoon By David McCord
The little caterpillar creeps
Awhile before in silk it sleeps.
It sleeps awhile before it flies,
And flies awhile before it dies,
And thatıs the end of three good tries.

Caterpillars By Brod Bagert
They came like dewdrops overnight
Eating every plant in sight,
Those nasty worms with legs that crawl
So creepy up the garden wall,
Green prickly fuzz to hurt and sting
Each unsuspecting living thing.
How I hate them! Oh, you know
Iıd love to squish them with my toe.
But then I see past their disguise,
Someday theyıll all be butterflies.


The Butterfly Jar By Jeff Moss
We had a jar with a butterfly.
We opened the lid and it flew to the sky.
And there are things inside my head
Waiting to be thought or said,
Dreams and jokes and wondering are
Locked inside, like a butterfly jar.
But then, when you are here with me,
I can open the lid and set them free.


A finger play to use with the life cycle of a butterfly:

First thereıs an egg and it is so small!
We can hardly see the egg at all. ( Hold up 1st finger. )
 A wiggly caterpillar, stage number two,
 Eating leaves for treats . . . that wouldnıt suit you!  (Two fingers)
He grows bigger and bigger. His skin gets too tight.
So he grows a new skin to fit him just right.
 (Use your arm and hand to simulate a wiggly caterpillar.)
He quiets down in stage number three.
He rest in a chrysalis quietly. (Cup hands for pupa case)
 Stage number four, caterpillar no more!
 And can you guess why?
 Heıs a butterfly! (Hold up four fingers.)
 A beautiful butterfly with wings. (Put thumbs together; spread
fingers.)
Did you know those crawly things would one day fly?
And be flower - like butterflies up in the sky?
>From the *Pocket Book* by David Cooper and Lynn Taylor


Caterpillar by Christina Rossetti
Brown and furry
Caterpillar in a hurry,
Take your walk
To the shady leaf, or stalk,
Or what not,
Which may be the chosen spot.
No toad to spy you,
Hovering bird of prey pass by you;
Spin and die,
To live again a butterfly.


Wings Dreams
I wish that I could dream me dreams
 that magically come true-
Like fuzzy, wuzzy, wormy, squirmy
 caterpillarıs do.

A caterpillar dreams himself
 right out of all his fuzz
And into lovely fairy wings;
 I wonder how he does.


The birdwing  (in Demiıs Secret Garden)
Brown and fury
Caterpillar in a hurry:
Take your walk
To the shady leaf, or stalk.

May no toad spy you,
May the little birds pass by you;
Spin and die,
To live again a butterfly


The Butterfly
The last, the very last,
So richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow.
Perhaps if the sun's tears would sing
   against a white stone...

Such, such a yellow
Is carried lightly "way up high.
It went away I'm sure because it wished to
  kiss the world good-bye.

For seven weeks I've lived in here,
Penned up inside this ghetto.
But I have found what I love here.
The dandelions call to me
And the white chestnut branches in the court.
Only I never saw another butterfly.

That butterfly was the last one.
Butterflies don't live in here,
     in the ghetto.

>From "I never saw another butterfly", a collection of poems written by
the children of Terezin concentration camp 1942 - 1944.




More information:

Search for poetry indexes for "caterpillars"

Christina Rossetti has a poem about caterpillars. It can be found in
several anthologies such as Arbuthnotıs.

The book JOYFUL NOISE : POEMS FOR TWO VOICES by Paul Fleischman  has a
poem "Chrysalis" describing the life cycle of the butterfly.

The book, The Butterfly Alphabet by Kjell B. Sandved  presents the
alphabet using  close-up photographs of butterfliesı wings. For each
letter there is a two line verse. The first two verses are:
On the wings aloft across the skies
An alphabet of butterflies.

Each butterfly in the secret brings
A letter hidden in its wings.

The Butterfly Alphabet
New York: Scholastic, 1996
ISBN: 0-590-48003-0
94-41514
$15.95


Jack Prelutskyıs collection of poems, The Beauty of the Beast, has
several poems.

There is a poetry collection titled "Animals, Animals", illustrated by
Eric Carle that has a subject index. It might have some poems about
butterflies.

The Random House Book of Poetry for Children has a subject index. It
might have some poems.

This site http://mgfx.com/contest/quail.htm  is a butterfly poem
contest. It has poems written by students.

Insectlopedia: Poems and Paintings by Douglas Florian
reading level: Age 4-8
Published by Harcourt Brace
Publication date: March 1, 1998
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0152013067/9278-9548742-651337

Flit, Flutter, Fly!: Poems About Bugs and Other Crawly Creatures by
lee
Bennet Hopkins, Peter Palagonia (Illustrator)
Published by Doubleday
Publication date: November 1992
ISBN: 0385414684
******************

And I realized that I have a lovely book entitled, "Hope for the
Flowers" which isn't REALLY about butterflies...but it looks like it
is. Can't remember the author's name:-(

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