University of Virginia Library

A haughty Eagle soaring in the sky,
Saw far beneath an azure mountain lie.
Curious to mark the spot with nearer view,
Close o'er his back his curving wings he drew,
Fixed his keen eye, his rudder tail he bent,
And circling widely, shaped his sheer descent.
Poised on the cliff at length, his plumes he shook,
And bent on all around, a searching look.
'Twas a wild peak, whose tempest-beaten brow
Frowned o'er a vale that distant lay below.
Here rocks, thick woods and chasms dark were seen,
With a wild cataract foaming white between;
A cultured valley there unfolded lay,
Here shone a river, yon a silver bay.

The Eagle's fancy kindled as he gazed,
And high ambition in his bosom blazed—
He thought—“'Twere bliss to own this fair domain,
This rock my throne, o'er these wild scenes to reign.
No huntsman's foot these beetling crags could scale,
Here I would sit unmoved and drink the gale;
And when the humor stirred, I'd win my way,
High in the light and hang o'er yonder bay;
Or deep beneath I'd thread the sullen dell,
And scare the panther with my piercing yell;
Now muse enraptured o'er yon foaming fall,
Now scent the tempest and the whirlwind call!
But these high pleasures pass with youth away,
These wings must droop, this piercing sight decay;
Old age's frost will chill my fancy's fire,
And quench in death ambition's high desire.
O let me then some deeper plan devise,
On which long hope may build, true fortune rise.
What may be done? The rock on which I rest,
A high descended race of eagles long possessed.
By conquest won—by valor strong maintained,
This cliff their castle, here they proudly reigned.
But they are gone—all, all in death recline,
Save the high heiress of this noble line.
This bird I'll woo, and if my suit prevail,
These realms are mine, I'll share them with the gale!
And here I'll found a noble line, whose name
Shall give to future date my form and fame.”

This resolution ta'en, the princess bird
He sought—his purpose stated, and his suit preferred.
With all becoming scorn his tale she heard,
Talked of presumption—but of that repented
‘And saying she could ne'er consent, consented.’
Now let us haste—two rapid years have flown,
And their first brood, four eaglets, full are grown.
What disappointment! e'en a father's eye,
In his own brood can nought of promise spy:
The first had scarce an eagle's form or flight,
But a lank bittern seemed to every sight.
The lofty crag and noble cliff he spurned,
And deep in swamps his vulgar pleasures earned;
In lowland pools he fondly loved to wade,
And on loose fish that floated by, he preyed.
The next could never soar; his wing too brief
And tail too long—his father marked with grief.
The third was overgrown—a sulky fowl,
That favored less the eaglet than the owl.
He put on airs—and wore a haughty look,
And for an eagle was by geese mistook;
But wiser birds his hoot and horns suspected,
And left the eagle feigned, an owl detected.
The fourth, a maiden bird, unlike the others,
Was fair, but no more eagle than the brothers,
Her legs too long, her plumage all too gay,
Her peacock form,—no noble blood betray.
Yet high-bred airs she feigned, and tossed her head,
Stretched her long neck, her gaudy tail she spread,
And spurned all humbler birds, save those who gazed,
Confessed their homage, and her plumage praised.
This passed with shallow fowls, but birds of sense,
Who looked thro' artifice and thro' pretence,
Scorned the dull cheat, by which the little mind
Would steal the honor due the nobler kind.

We pass o'er years: the mountain-eagle dead,
His race is scattered and his fame is fled.
The lofty peak, that once his sway confessed,
By vulgar birds is parcelled and possessed.
Wrens, jays and crows, now chatter, caw and sing,
Where proudly swept the monarch eagle's wing:
Degraded, poor and scorned, his worthless race,
Wander with lowland birds, as scorned and base.
The proud are fallen—wealth is passed away,
And wisdom draws this lesson from the lay—
That he who weds for wealth, is like to be
The father of a foolish progeny;
Sowing in pride, his harvest shall be shame,
Shared by himself and those who bear his name!