...  Robin!  Robin! 
  His little heart is throbbing;
  Can this ...  MS.]

[Variant 3: 

1832.

  Did cover ... 1807.]

[Variant 4: 

1815.

  ...  Like thine own breast
  His beautiful wings in crimson are drest,
  As if he were bone of thy bone.  MS.

  Like the hues of thy breast
  His beautiful wings in crimson are drest,
  A brother he seems of thine own:  1807.

  ... in the air together! 
  His beautiful bosom is drest,
  In crimson as bright as thine own:  1832.

The edition of 1836 resumes the text of 1815.]

[Variant 5: 

1836.

  If thou would’st be ... 1807.]

* * * * *

FOOTNOTES ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A:  The title, in the editions 1807 to 1820, was ’The Redbreast and the Butterfly’.  In the editions 1827 to 1843 it was ’The Redbreast and Butterfly’.  The final title was given in 1845.—­Ed.]

[Footnote B:  Compare Cowley: 

  ’And Robin Redbreasts whom men praise,
  For pious birds.’

Ed.]

[Footnote C:  See ‘Paradise Lost’, book XI., where Adam points out to Eve the ominous sign of the Eagle chasing “two Birds of gayest plume,” and the gentle Hart and Hind pursued by their enemy.—­W.  W. 1815.

The passage in book XI. of ‘Paradise Lost’ includes lines 185-90.—­Ed.]

* * * * *

TO A BUTTERFLY (#2)

Composed April 20, 1802.—­Published 1807

[Written at the same time and place.  The Orchard, Grasmere Town-end, 1801.—­I.F.]

Included among the “Poems founded on the Affections.”—­Ed.

  I’ve watch’d you now a full [1] 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 5
  More motionless! and then
  What joy awaits you, when the breeze
  Hath found you out among the trees,
  And calls you forth again!

  This plot of orchard-ground is ours; 10
  My trees they are, my Sister’s flowers;
  Here rest your wings when they are weary;
  Here lodge as in a sanctuary! [2]
  Come often to us, fear no wrong;
  Sit near us on the bough! 15
  We’ll talk of sunshine and of song,
  And summer days, when we were young;
  Sweet childish days, that were as long
  As twenty days are now.

* * * * *

VARIANTS ON THE TEXT

[Variant 1: 

1807.

  ... short ... 1836.