Wherever driven by wind or tide, And as for you, my Lady Squeamish, Should droop and wither where they grow, His censure reached them as he dealt it, And each, by shrinking, showed he felt it. Cowper. THE NIGHTINGALE AND GLOW-WORM. A Nightingale, that all day long So, stooping down from hawthorn top, Harangued him thus, right eloquent- That brother should not war with brother, Those Christians best deserve the name, Cowper. ON A GOLDFINCH STARVED TO DEATH IN HIS CAGE. Time was when I was free as air, But gaudy plumage, sprightly strain, For caught and caged, and starved to death, In dying sighs my little breath Soon passed the wiry grate. Thanks, gentle swain, for all my woes, And thanks for this effectual close, And cure of every ill! More cruelty could none express; Had been your prisoner still. Cowper. THE POPLAR FIELD. The poplars are felled, farewell to the shade, And the whispering sound of the cool colonnade; The winds play no longer and sing in the leaves, Nor Ouse on his bosom their image receives. Twelve years have elapsed, since I last took a view Of my favourite field, and the bank where they grew; And now in the grass behold they are laid, And the tree is my seat, that once lent me a shade. The blackbird has fled to another retreat, Where the hazels afford him a screen from the heat; And the scene, where his melody charmed me before, Resounds with his sweet-flowing ditty no more. My fugitive years are all hasting away, With a turf on my breast, and a stone at my head, Ere another such grove shall arise in its stead. The change both my heart and my fancy employs, I reflect on the frailty of man, and his joys; Short-lived as we are, yet our pleasures, we see, Have a still shorter date, and die sooner than we. Cowper. THE ROSE. The rose had been washed, just washed in a shower, Which Mary to Anna conveyed, The plentiful moisture encumbered the flower, And weighed down its beautiful head. The cup was all filled, and the leaves were all wet, To weep for the buds it had left with regret, I hastily seized it, unfit as it was, For a nosegay, so dripping and drown'd, |