Ten Tiny Poems
Summer is the season of insects! Enjoy these short poetic pieces and marvel at the magnificence of mighty small creatures.
Ladybug
A small speckled visitor wearing a crimson cape,
Brighter than a cherry, smaller than a grape
A polka-dotted someone walking on my wall
A black hooded lady in a scarlet shawl.
by Joan Walsh Anglund
Fireflies
I like to chase the fireflies,
Chase them to and fro’
I like to watch them dart about,
Their little lamps aglow.
In the evening's twilight dim
I follow them about,
I often think I have one caught,
And then his light goes out.
I cannot tell just where he is
Until he winks, you see,
Then far away I see his light,
He’s played a joke on me!
by Grace Wilson Coplen
Excerpt from Bees
You voluble,
Velvety
Vehement fellows
That play on your
Flying and
Musical cellos,
All goldenly
Girdled you
Serenade clover,
Each artist in
Bass but a
Bibulous rover!
by Norman Rowland Gale
Caterpillar
Brown and furry
Caterpillar in a hurry,
Take your walk
To the shady leaf, or stalk,
Or what not,
Which may be the chosen spot.
No toad spy you,
Hovering bird of prey pass by you;
Spin and die,
To live again a butterfly.
by Christina Rossetti
Butterfly
Butterfly, butterfly, what lovely wings!
Flutter by, flutter by, and my heart sings.
Butterfly, butterfly, I want to know
When it rains, rains, where do you go?
by Sanford Jones
from Forgiven
I found a little beetle; so that Beetle was his name,
And I called him Alexander and he answered just the same.
I put him in a match-box, and I kept him all the day ...
And Nanny let my beetle out -
Yes, Nanny let my beetle out -
She went and let my beetle out -
And Beetle ran away.
by A.A. Milne
I Love Bugs
I love teeny tiny ants and itchy bitsy fleas,
spiders, big and little, and grouchy grumble bees,
butterflies that flutter by and beetles when they run
from marching caterpillars.
I think bugs are fun.
Skeeters like to bite me, but lightning bugs, they don’t,
and flies that get inside the house could bite, but they won’t.
Silly racing centipedes and slow and slimy slugs are my very special favorites.
I love bugs.
by C. J. Heck
Fleas
Adam
had’em.
By Ogden Nash
(thought to be the shortest poem in the world!)
Oh, Fly
Oh, fly,
you flew onto my leaf
and not my food.
What a relief!
For on my food
you'd bring me grief
as you're a vector of disease.
But you on leaf?
My mind's at ease.
And there is much to please my eye.
For oh, you are a lovely fly.
Just do not go and multiply.
by Jane Yolen
Hurt No Living Thing
Hurt no living thing:
Ladybird, nor butterfly,
Nor moth with dusty wing,
Nor cricket chirping cheerily,
Nor grasshopper so light of leap,
Nor dancing gnat, nor beetle fat,
Nor harmless worms that creep.
by Christina Rossetti