He put his acorn helmet on; It was plumed of the silk of the thistle down; The corslet plate that guarded his breast Was once the wild bee's golden vest; His cloak, of a thousand mingled dyes, Was formed of the wings of butterflies; His shield was the shell of a lady-bug green, Studs of gold on a ground of green; And the quivering lance which he brandished bright, Was the sting of a wasp he had slain in fight. Swift he bestrode his fire-fly steed; He barred his blade of the bent-grass blue; He drove his spurs of the cockle-seed, And away like a glance of thought he flew, To skim the heavens, and follow far The fiery trail of the rocket-star. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BALLAD OF CHRISTMAS by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE IN FLANDERS FIELDS by JOHN MCCRAE DICK, A MAGGOT by JONATHAN SWIFT WALT WHITMAN by FRANCIS HOWARD WILLIAMS YOUTH'S SONGS by MAXWELL ANDERSON AUNT FANNY; A LEGEND OF A SHIRT by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM MOON RIDER by WILLIAM ROSE BENET THE WANDERER: 2. IN FRANCE: ADIEU, MIGNONNE, MA BELLE by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON THE LEGEND OF GOOD WOMEN: 5. THE LEGEND OF LUCRECE by GEOFFREY CHAUCER |