Felicia Hemans in The New Monthly Magazine Volume 39 1833/The Lonely Bird
The New Monthly Magazine, Volume 39, Page 413
The Lonely Bird.
From a ruin thou art singing,
O lonely, lonely bird!
The soft blue air is ringing
By thy summer-music stirr'd;
But all is dark and cold beneath,
When harps no more are heard;
Whence winn'st thou that exulting breath?
O lonely, lonely bird!
Thy song flows richly swelling
To a triumph of glad sounds,
As from its cavern-dwelling
A stream in glory bounds!
Though the castle echoes catch no tone
Of human step or word,
Though the fires be quench'd, and the feasting done,
O lonely, lonely bird!
How can that flood of gladness
Rush through thy fiery lay,
From the haunted place of sadness,
From the bosom of decay?
While dirge-notes in the breezes moan
Through the ivy garland heard,
Come, chant with thy rejoicing tone,
O lonely, lonely bird!
Yet I know a heart, wild singer!
Like thy forsaken tower,
Where joy no more may linger,
Whose love hath left his bower;
And I know a spirit e'en like thee,
To mirth as lightly stirr'd,
Though it soar from ruin in its glee—
O lonely, lonely bird!