THE DRAGON-FLY
To-day I saw the dragon-fly
Come from the wells where he did lie;
An inner impulse rent the veil
Of his old husk! from head to tail
Came out clear plates of sapphire mail.
He dried his wings: like gauze they grew;
Through crofts and pastures wet with dew
A living flash of light he flew.
Alfred Tennyson.