Poems (Sharpless)/My Mocking Bird

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4648384Poems — My Mocking BirdFrances M. Sharpless

MY MOCKING BIRD
Weary and weak from pain, I lie,
With languid head, and half-closed eye;
Nerves all unstrung, responsive spring
To meet whate'er may respite bring.

A lovely scene of hill and dale
Spreads out before my view; clouds sail
In yonder dome of azure air,
With sweet bird warbles everywhere.

The swallows hurrying with wide throat,
The blackbird's clear responsive note,
The robin's rich, full call, the scream
Of angry catbird by the stream,

The anxious cluck of brooding hens,
The squabbling of the nestling wrens,
Whose hungry mouths are gaping wide
And only one worm to divide;—

Then a swift flood of melody
O'erflows my little room, and me,
And thro' the winter's stormy hours
I see the sunny Land of Flowers.

Thus shift the scenes at thy caprice,
While rough winds blow and sleet storms freeze;
A little feathered fairy sings,
And changes thus the face of things.