 | The writings of James Russell Lowell |  |
A PARABLE
An ass munched thistles, while a nightingaleFrom passion's fountain flooded all the vale.
“Hee-haw!” cried he, “I hearken,” as who knew
For such ear-largess humble thanks were due.
“Friend,” said the wingëd pain, “in vain you bray,
Who tunnels bring, not cisterns, for my lay;
None but his peers the poet rightly hear,
Nor mete we listeners by their length of ear.”
Colonna, Italy, 1852.
| The writings of James Russell Lowell | |