Charles Warren Stoddard

Charles Warren Stoddard (7 August 1843 – 23 April 1909) was an American author and editor best known for his travel books about Polynesian life.

Charles Warren Stoddard

Quotes

Poetry

One Life

• UPON the woven leaf,
  Upon the veined flower,
  I find my life portrayed in bief–
  My life from hour to hour.
  A frail leaf fit to die;
  The faithful air of heaven by,
  While no wind roughly blew.
  All day for my delight,
  From dark to dark my own;
  One butterfly delaying flight,
  That left me not alone.
  A humming-bird to float
  Upon a breath; a bee
  To blow a long complaining note,
  Invited were of me.
  • Poems of Charles Warren Stoddard, edited by Ina Coolbrith (1917), p. 29