In Teos once, bedewed with odours fine, The happy dove slept on his master's lyre; A little homeless swallow clings to mine, A spirit-bird - he looks for something higher Than songs and odours; pity and remorse He claims - an elegy of words and tears: He asks me why they swept him from his peers, When wheeling gaily in his wondrous course; And now he comes, with trembling wings, to plead For some brief record of his cruel fate; Some note of tuneful sorrow for the deed Which struck him from the side of his dear mate. Poor bird! had I the Teian's melody, Sweet as his dainty Ode thy dirge should be. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MOLLY PITCHER [JUNE 28, 1778] by KATE BROWNLEE SHERWOOD THE TRANCE by LASCELLES ABERCROMBIE THE GODODDIN: CONAN by ANEIRIN THE STRAYED REVELLER by MATTHEW ARNOLD THE POET'S SOLILOQUY by E. M. AVERILL |