. Through the year with birds and poets [poems]; . mph ! direful note to thee,That guides thy murderer to the fatal tree;See where he skulks, and takes his gloomy stand,The deep-chargd musket hanging in his hand;And, gaunt for blood, he leans it on a rest,Prepared, and pointed at thy snow-white , friend ! good friend ! forbear that barbarous deed !Against it Valor, Goodness, Pity plead;If ere a familys griefs, a widows woe,Have reachd the soul, in mercy let him go !Yet, should the tear of pity nought avail,Let interest speak, let gratitude not thy friend, who thy whole ha
. Through the year with birds and poets [poems]; . mph ! direful note to thee,That guides thy murderer to the fatal tree;See where he skulks, and takes his gloomy stand,The deep-chargd musket hanging in his hand;And, gaunt for blood, he leans it on a rest,Prepared, and pointed at thy snow-white , friend ! good friend ! forbear that barbarous deed !Against it Valor, Goodness, Pity plead;If ere a familys griefs, a widows woe,Have reachd the soul, in mercy let him go !Yet, should the tear of pity nought avail,Let interest speak, let gratitude not thy friend, who thy whole harvest shields,And sweeps ten thousand vermin from thy fields ;Think how this dauntless bird, thy poultrys guard,Drove every hawk and eagle from thy yard;Watched round thy cattle as they fed, and slewThe hungry, blackening swarms that round them small return — some little right resign,And spare his life whose services are thine !— I plead in vain ! Amid the bursting roar,The poor lost king bird welters in his gore ! Alexander King Bi WITH BIRDS AND POETS 215 THE KING BIRD Hark ! as the red-bird dumb to shelter flies, Fighting his way from Amazonian skies The king bird comes; and on yon flowring tree, Swift from whose bloom in terror darts the bee, Screaming alights ; his heritage with pride Surveys, of tree and thorn-hedge spreading wide, But most of air — with insects all alive, And what to him is luxury, the hive ; Then stoops, selects some scraggly orchard limb — Its height a momentary thought with him, Who, to protect the brood confined there, Relies upon his courage and his care — On which he boldly plants his nest, in sight, And dares the eagle to dispute his right. Come ! ye that make a thriving land your prey, Yet, at the call of danger, sneak away ; Come, ye unfeeling, selfish, craven herd, And blush to learn your duty from a bird. The sticks once laid, with witherd flowers entv/ind And wool, impervious to the wet and wind, His kind suspicio
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectame, booksubjectbirds
