Poems

Chapter 84: LINES ON A LITTLE BIRD

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About This Book

A varied collection of lyrical and occasional poems encompassing light social verse, pastoral descriptions, travel pieces gathered from earlier fugitive publication, and personal elegies. Pieces range from tranquil nature scenes and grotto meditations to expressions of romantic longing and formal dedications; a prominent elegy mourns a beloved brother and traces grief and memory. The preface frames the poems as modest divertissements written across youth and maturity, and some material derives from the author's tours. The tone alternates between playful, reflective, and mournful, favoring accessible meters and conventional poetic imagery rather than experimental forms.

LINES ON A LITTLE BIRD

Singing at the Window of the Author,

SOON AFTER THE DEATH OF A BELOVED SISTER.

Go, little flutt’rer! seek thy feather’d loves,
    And leave a wretched mourner to his woe;
Seek out the bow’rs of bliss, seek happier groves,
    Nor here unheeded let thy music flow.

Yet think me not ungrateful for thy song,
    If meant to cheer me in my lone retreat;
Ah! not to thee, my little friend! belong
    The pow’rs to soothe the pangs of adverse fate.

Fly, then! the window of the wretched, fly!
    And be thy harmless life for ever blest;
I only can reward thee with a sigh,
    And wish that joys may crown thy peaceful nest.