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THE FREED BIRD.
Thy cage is opened, bird! too well I love thee
To bar the sunny things of earth from thee;
A whole broad heaven of blue lies calm above thee,
The green-wood waves beneath, and thou art free;
These slender wires shall prison thee no more—
Up, bird! and 'mid the clouds thy thrilling music pour.
To bar the sunny things of earth from thee;
A whole broad heaven of blue lies calm above thee,
The green-wood waves beneath, and thou art free;
These slender wires shall prison thee no more—
Up, bird! and 'mid the clouds thy thrilling music pour.
Away! away! the laughing waters, playing,
Break on the fragrant shore in ripples blue,
And the green leaves unto the breeze are laying
Their shining edges, fringed with drops of dew;
And, here and there, a wild flower lifts its head
Refreshed with sudden life from many a sunbeam shed.
Break on the fragrant shore in ripples blue,
And the green leaves unto the breeze are laying
Their shining edges, fringed with drops of dew;
And, here and there, a wild flower lifts its head
Refreshed with sudden life from many a sunbeam shed.
How sweet thy voice will sound! for o'er yon river
The wing of silence, like a dream, is laid,
And nought is heard save where the wood-boughs quiver,
Making rich spots of trembling light and shade.
And a new rapture thy wild spirit fills,
For joy is on the breeze, and morn upon the hills.
The wing of silence, like a dream, is laid,
And nought is heard save where the wood-boughs quiver,
Making rich spots of trembling light and shade.
And a new rapture thy wild spirit fills,
For joy is on the breeze, and morn upon the hills.
Now, like the aspen, plays each quivering feather
Of thy swift pinion, bearing thee along,
Of thy swift pinion, bearing thee along,
