Creatures and flowers

The poet looks closely at the creatures of the day. A bird sits carelessly on a fence; another gossips in the lane; and something charms a snake winding round a stone.

Bright flowers split their calyx (the green cup that holds the bud) and rise on their stems like flags half-hoisted, with spices in the hem.

There was more, she says, that she cannot even name: the day was too rich to describe fully.

Even the great painter Van Dyck's picture of a summer day would seem poor to those who had seen the real one.

The poem praises close looking: nature outdoes art.