 | Songs of the sea, with other poems |  |
27
V.
TO A LAND BIRD.
Thou wanderer from green fields and leafy nooks!Where blooms the flower and toils the honey-bee,—
Where odorous blossoms drift along the brooks,
And woods and hills are very fair to see,—
Why hast thou left thy native bough to roam,
With drooping wing, far o'er the briny billow?
Thou canst not, like the ospray, cleave the foam,
Nor like the petrel make the wave thy pillow.
Thou'rt like those fine-toned spirits, gentle bird,
Which from some better land to this rude life
Seem borne. They struggle, 'mid the common herd,
With powers unfitted for the selfish strife:
Haply, at length, some zephyr wafts them back
To their own home of peace, across the world's dull track.
| Songs of the sea, with other poems | |