{
 "id": "henry-van-dyke-jr/a-bunch-of-trout-flies",
 "title": "A Bunch of Trout-Flies",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": "For Archie Rutledge",
 "poet": "Henry van Dyke Jr.",
 "poet_slug": "henry-van-dyke-jr",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "The Poems of Henry Van Dyke",
 "book_slug": "poems",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 156,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1920,
  "venue": "The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1920)",
  "note": "Taken from the 1920 collected edition. That is the printing this text comes from, not the poem's first appearance: the volume gathers work published from 1897 onward, and which earlier book or magazine printed this poem first has not been established here.",
  "uncertain": true,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsofhenryvand00vandrich"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/henry-van-dyke-jr_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16229",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16134",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10679",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3525",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9372",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29314",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43094",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsofhenryvand00vandrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/buildersotherpoe00vandrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/toilingoffelixan00vandiala",
   "https://archive.org/details/musicotherpoems0000henr_c7v6",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsnowfirstcol00vanduoft",
   "https://archive.org/details/songsoutofdoors0000vand",
   "https://archive.org/details/thyseaisgreatour00vandiala",
   "https://archive.org/details/chosenpoems0000vand"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 53,
  "n_stanzas": 5,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 40,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Here’s a half-a-dozen flies,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Just about the proper size",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For the trout of Dickey’s Run⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Luck go with them every one!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Dainty little feathered beauties,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Listen now, and learn your duties:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Not to tangle in the box;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Not to catch on logs or rocks,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Boughs that wave or weeds that float,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor in the angler’s “pants” or coat!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Not to lure the glutton frog",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From his banquet in the bog;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor the lazy chub to fool,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Splashing idly round the pool;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor the sullen hornèd pout",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From the mud to hustle out!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "None of this vulgarian crew,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Dainty flies, is game for you.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Darting swiftly through the air",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Guided by the angler’s care,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Light upon the flowing stream",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like a wingèd fairy dream;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Float upon the water dancing,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Through the lights and shadows glancing,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Till the rippling current brings you,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And with quiet motion swings you,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where a speckled beauty lies",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Watching you with hungry eyes.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Here’s your game and here’s your prize!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hover near him, lure him, tease him,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Do your very best to please him,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Dancing on the water foamy,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like the frail and fair Salome,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Till the monarch yields at last;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Rises, and you have him fast!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Then remember well your duty⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Do not lose, but land, your booty;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For the finest fish of all is",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Salvelinus Fontinalis.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "So, you plumed illusions, go,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Let my comrade Archie know",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Every day he goes a-fishing",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I’ll be with him in well-wishing.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Most of all when lunch is laid",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the dappled orchard shade,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With Will, Corinne, and Dixie too,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sitting as we used to do",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Round the white cloth on the grass",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "While the lazy hours pass,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the brook’s contented tune",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Lulls the sleepy afternoon⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Then’s the time my heart will be",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With that pleasant company!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}