THE WAY OF LOVE.

By Edith Nesbit

THE butterfly loves the rose,

He flutters around her bed,

Till the soft curled leaves unclose,

And she raises her darling head.

He whispers of dawn and of dew,

Of love, and the heart of love,

Of worship, timid and true,

And she takes no joy thereof.

But when, through the noon's blind heat,

The arrogant bee flaunts by,

She yields him her heart's hid sweet,

And he leaves her alone, to die.

The depth of her dying bliss

Her grief-white butterfly knows:

And the bee laughs low in the kiss

Of another, a redder rose.