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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MIGRATION by EDITH MATILDA THOMAS

First Line: THE CAGED BIRD, THAT ALL THE AUTUMN DAY
Last Line: TO FOLLOW THEM WHERE SUMMER HAS NO DATE
Subject(s): BIRDS;
THE caged bird, that all the autumn day
In quiet dwells, when falls the autumn eve
Seeks how its liberty it may achieve,
Beats at the wires and its poor wings doth fray:
For now desire of migrant change holds sway;
This summer-vacant land it longs to leave,
While its free peers on tireless pinions cleave
The haunted twilight, speeding south their way.

Not otherwise than as the prisoned bird,
We here dwell careless of our captive state
Until light dwindles, and the year grows late,
And answering note to note no more is heard;
Then, our loved fellows flown, the soul is stirred
To follow them where summer has no date



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