THE CATERPILLAR.
I'm a Caterpillar green,
Not the prettiest you have seen,
And my Chrysalis I enter rather loth;
Though I know that in the spring
I shall rise on feathered wing
In the costume of a fascinating Moth.
"I'm a Caterpillar green."
Little likeness you will spy,
With the cleverest little eye,
'Twixt your green-coated friend of to-day
And the airy form that sails
When the golden sunlight pales,
And the owl flies abroad for his prey.
"And my Chrysalis I enter rather loth."
Yet the same we are indeed,
Though the riddle's hard to read,
One, the Moth and the Caterpillar green;
And still stranger things than this,
Which no little one should miss,
In the Picture Book of Nature can be seen.
"If you'll only deign to lend your ear."
So I think, my little friend,
If you'll only deign to lend
Your ear to these few words that I say,
Ne'er again will you rely
For convictions on the eye,
As appearances have often led astray.
"Oh, what a beautiful Moth am I."