The Dragon-Fly

Today I saw the dragon-fly

Come from the wells where he did lie.

 

An inner impulse rent the veil

Of his old husk: from head to tail

Came out clear plates of sapphire mail.

 

He dried his wings: like gauze they grew;

Through crofts and pastures wet with dew

A living flash of light, he flew.

 

by

Alfred, Lord Tennyson