Satires—Imitations—AND Sonnets.

by Cornwall Bayley

 

To —— ——

On her Canary Bird.—“I wish I were thy bird!”
                                                                      Shaks. Rom.

1.
    YON bird that flutters in his cage
And seems to struggle to be free;
Knows not the cares he would engage,
Dear —— —— when at large from thee!

2.
For should he break his wiry chain
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And seek the songsters of the grove;
Still would he fly to you again,
Where center’d rests his only love.

3.
    For me—whose heart (like him) is bound,
In —— ——’s unlamented cage,
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I would not leave my measur’d ground
For all the freedom of the age!

4.
    For should my light and winged heart,
Soar thro’ the limits of the world;
Still would it dread misfortune’s dart,
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By faithless hate, and falshood hurl’d;

5.
    But in my —— ——’s bond repress’d,
Slavery itself becomes a bliss;
My only prison is her breast,
And each resistless chain a kiss! [Page 29]
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