"THE nightingale appear'd the first, "And as her melody she sang, "The apple into blossom burst, "To life the grass and violets sprang. "She her own bosom then did bite, "Her red blood flow'd, and from the blood "A beauteous rose-tree came to light, "To whom she sings in loving mood. "That blood atones for, to this day, "Us birds within the forest here; "Yet when the rose-song dies away, "Will all the wood too disappear." Thus to his youthful brood doth speak The sparrow in his oaken nest; His mate pips, while she trims her beak, And proudly sits and looks her best She is a homely wife and kind, Broods well, and ne'er is seen to pout; The father makes his children find Pastime in studying things devout. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PLAYING SOMEONE ELSE'S PIANO by KAREN SWENSON THE DREAM OF EUGENE ARAM, THE MURDERER by THOMAS HOOD ABOU BEN ADHEM by JAMES HENRY LEIGH HUNT ON VISITING THE TOMB OF BURNS by JOHN KEATS SONNET: 138 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE |