 | The poems (1969) |  |
25 [Translations in An History of the Earth, and Animated Nature]
708
i
Of all the fish that graze beneath the flood,He only ruminates his former food.
ii
Chaste are their instincts, faithful is their fire,No foreign beauty tempts to false desire:
The snow-white vesture and the glittering crown,
The simple plumage or the glossy down,
Prompt not their love. The patriot bird pursues
His well-acquainted tints and kindred hues.
Hence through their tribes no mixed, polluted flame,
No monster-breed to mark the groves with shame:
But the chaste blackbird, to its partner true,
Thinks black alone is beauty's favourite hue;
The nightingale, with mutual passion blest,
Sings to its mate and nightly charms the nest;
While the dark owl to court his partner flies,
And owns his offspring in their yellow eyes.
| The poems (1969) | |