The Works of the Late Aaron Hill ... In Four Volumes. Consisting of Letters on Various Subjects, And of Original Poems, Moral and Facetious. With An Essay on the Art of Acting |
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The Singing-Bird.
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 | The Works of the Late Aaron Hill |  |
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The Singing-Bird.
I
Pope , in absence of his pain,Easy, negligent, and gay,
With the fair, in am'rous vein,
Lively, as the smiling day,
Talk'd, and toy'd, the hours away.
II
Tuneful, o'er Belinda's chair,Finely cag'd, a Linnet hung;
Breath'd its little soul in air,
Flutt'ring round its mansion sprung;
And its carrols sweetly sung.
III
Winding, from the fair one's eye,On her feather'd slave, to gaze;
Meant, cry'd Pope, to wing the sky,
Yet, a captive, all thy days,
How dost thou this musick raise!
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IV
Since, a prisoner, thou can'st sing,Sportive, airy, wanton, here,
Hadst thou liberty of wing,
How thy melody would chear!
How transport the list'ning ear!
V
No, reply'd the warbling song.Rais'd—articulate, and clear!
Now, to wish me free, were wrong;
Loftier, in my native sphere,
But, with fewer friends, than here.
VI
Tho' with grief, my fate you see,Many a poet's is the same;
Aw'd, secluded, and unfree,
Humble avarice of fame,
Keeps 'em fetter'd, own'd, and tame.
VII
To our feeders, they, and I,Lend our lives, in narrow bound;
Perch'd, within our owner's eye,
Gay, we hop, the gilded round,
Changing, neither note, nor ground.
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VIII
For, should freedom break our chain,Tho' the self-dependent flight
Would, to heav'n exalt our strain;
Yet, unheard, and out of sight,
All our praise were forfeit, by't.
| The Works of the Late Aaron Hill | |