I saw a beetle on my knee As I lay basking by a tree, And this is what he said to me: Since you ask me of the Lotus, May this oak-tree not misquote us; I the Scarab am, of old Gold and green, and green and gold. Let the chariots speed away, Clamor lasts for but a day, While the peace the Scarab gives Murder and its god outlives. Egypt wore me on her breast, Pharaoh bore me as a crest. Brief was Pharaoh's scarley way, I am green and gold to-day. Most delectably to me By the green and golden tree, Spoke the beetle on my knee. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...OF A BAD SINGER; EPIGRAM by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE QUATRAIN: FATE by RALPH WALDO EMERSON THE WAVING OF THE CORN by SIDNEY LANIER SONNET by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH OFF MESOLONGI by ALFRED AUSTIN A LAMENT FOR PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN |