ESTRICH, thou feather'd fool and easy prey, That larger sails to thy broad vessel need'st; Snakes through thy guttur-neck hiss all the day, Then on thy iron mess at supper feed'st. Oh what a glorious transmigration From this to so divine an edifice Hast thou straight made! near from a winged stone Transform'd into a bird of paradise. Now do thy plumes for hue and lustre vie With th' arch of heav'n that triumphs o'er past wet, And in a rich enamell'd pinion lie, With sapphires, amethysts and opals set. Sometime they wing her side, then strive to drown The day's eye's piercing beams, whose am'rous heat Solicits still, till, with this shield of down, From her brave face his glowing fires are beat. But whilst a plumy curtain she doth draw, A crystal mirror sparkles in thy breast, In which her fresh aspect whenas she saw, And then her foe retired to the west, "Dear engine that o' th' sun got'st me the day, Spite of his hot assaults mad'st him retreat, No wind," said she, "dare with thee henceforth play But mine own breath to cool the tyrant's heat. "My lively shade thou ever shalt retain In thy enclosed feather-framed glass, And, but unto ourselves, to all remain Invisible, thou feature of this face!" So said, her sad swain overheard, and cried, "Ye gods! for faith unstain'd this a reward! Feathers and glass t' outweigh my virtue tried! Ah, show their empty strength!" The gods accord Now fall'n the brittle favourite lies, and burst. Amaz'd Lucasta weeps, repents, and flies To her Alexis, vows herself accurs'd If hence she dress herself but in his eyes. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DEPARTURE IN THE DARK by CECIL DAY LEWIS THE RAINY SUMMER by ALICE MEYNELL STREET CORNER COLLEGE by KENNETH PATCHEN HOME THOUGHTS FROM EUROPE by HENRY VAN DYKE YARROW UNVISITED by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH THE LAKE ISLE OF INNISFREE by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS THE ELF CHILD by GEORGE LAWRENCE ANDREWS |