Beautiful Butterflies

"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly. "One must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower."
~ Hans Christian Anderson




Please enjoy these butterfly poems and quotes illustrated by butterflies from my collection of antiquarian books and ephemera...

A butterfly lights beside us, like a sunbeam...
and for a brief moment its glory
and beauty belong to our world...
but then it flies on again, and although
we wish it could have stayed,
we are so thankful to have seen it at all.
~ Author Unknown

Oh! pleasant, pleasant were the days,
The time, when, in our childish plays,
My sister Emmeline and I
Together chased the butterfly!
~ William Wordsworth

From Cocoon forth a Butterfly
As Lady from her Door
Emerged - a Summer Afternoon -
Repairing Everywhere -~ Emily Dickenson

Without Design - that I could trace
Except to stray abroad
On Miscellaneous Enterprise
The Clovers - understood
~ Emily Dickenson





















As the Lord had finished creating the earth, something was missing so he chose pieces from all the flowers, threw them into the sky and blew life into them and the butterflies were born. ~ Author Unknown





















Butterflies are self propelled flowers. ~ R.H. Heinlein





















Beautiful and graceful, varied and enchanting, small but approachable, butterflies lead you to the sunny side of life. And everyone deserves a little sunshine. ~ Jeffrey Glassberg





















Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

Love is like a butterfly: It goes where it pleases and it pleases
wherever it goes. ~ Author Unknown

I've watched you now a full half-hour;
Self-poised upon that yellow flower
And, little Butterfly! Indeed
I know not if you sleep or feed.
How motionless! - not frozen seas
More motionless! and then
What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Hath found you out among the trees,
And calls you forth again!
~ William Wordsworth

Flowers and butterflies drift in color, illuminating spring. ~ Author
Unknown


We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty. ~ Maya Angelou

Free the butterflies-
I'll be there
to see them soar
upon the air.
Know my spirit
is on the wing,
feel my laughter-
hear me sing.
Forever in your dreams
always in your heart.
~ Fran LeMasters