 | East and west : the discovery of America and other poems |  |
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THE CAPTIVE.
Have you seen a captive warbler in his gilded cage in MayWith his tiny bursting heart against the grating?
Have you set him where the shadows of the garden branches play,
In whose silken bowers the busy birds are mating?
On what joyous cradles of the giddy tossing crests
Doth he mark them weave their nests!
How they chuckle and they snuggle with their little glossy breasts,
Violet scents
Wafting shy delicious blessings to their leafy bridal tents!
Ah, but he
Beats against the cruel mesh his shattered wing in agony;
A wild melodic ecstasy of anguish utters;
And like a flaming spirit flutters
To be free.
And one tiny yellow maiden on a spray of lilac poises.
From her little throbbing throat what luscious noises
Warble love, and promise of a summer's bliss for him,
Chirp a dainty kiss for him,
As she turns her pretty head askance with supple coquetry.
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Doth she not tremble at the elemental grandeur of his rage?
Dear, sweet, unconscious brutes!
Unhappy singers!—
But weep thou tears of blood, my heart, for distant phantom fingers
Fore'er in vain outstretched to pluck thee from thy roots!
| East and west : the discovery of America and other poems | |