The Caterpillar by Robert Graves
Silent Out of Sight
Silent out of sight
Mister Caterpillar feasts
Summer’s bounty ripe
Robert Graves (1895 -1985) English poet, novelist, critic, and classical scholar who carried on many of the formal traditions of English verse in a period of experimentation. His more than 120 books also include a notable historical novel, I, Claudius (1934); an autobiographical classic of World War I, Good-Bye to All That (1929; rev. ed. 1957); and erudite, controversial studies in mythology.
Poem Attribution © Robert Graves, The Caterpillar
Source Attribution https://poets.org/poem/caterpillar
Haiku Attribution Goff James, Silent Out of Sight
Painting Attribution © Diego Lazzarin, Interior Garden #2 – The Dragons and the Caterpillar, (Date Unstated)
Source Attribution https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Painting-Interior-Garden-2-The-Dragons-and-the-Caterpillar/1020461/3913485/view
The Caterpillar by Robert Graves
Under this loop of honeysuckle,
A creeping, coloured caterpillar,
I gnaw the fresh green hawthorn spray,
I nibble it leaf by leaf away.
Down beneath grow dandelions,
Daisies, old-man’s-looking-glasses;
Rooks flap croaking across the lane.
I eat and swallow and eat again.
Here come raindrops helter-skelter;
I munch and nibble unregarding:
Hawthorn leaves are juicy and firm.
I’ll mind my business: I’m a good worm.
When I’m old, tired, melancholy,
I’ll build a leaf-green mausoleum
Close by, here on this lovely spray,
And die and dream the ages away.
Some say worms win resurrection,
With white wings beating flitter-flutter,
But wings or a sound sleep, why should I care?
Either way I’ll miss my share.
Under this loop of honeysuckle,
A hungry, hairy caterpillar,
I crawl on my high and swinging seat,
And eat, eat, eat—as one ought to eat.
Bio Reference Attribution https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Graves
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