Poems for Children Sigourney/The Imprisoned Bird

by Lydia Sigourney

The Imprisoned Bird.

There you hang in your cage,
    Up in the green tree,
Looking as sad
    As a bird can be;

Gazing all day
    At your friends that fly,
Singing so gaily,
    From earth to sky.

The bright butterflies,
    And the beetles and bees,
Spread forth their light wings,
    And sport where they please.

But there you sit
    With a folded wing,
And a broken heart,
    Tho' you try to sing.

Might I open your prison
    And bid you go,
And build a nest
    As you us'd to do,—

And see you soar
    With a sparkling eye,
Abroad through the meadows
    So joyfully,—

And hear you pouring
    The song of the free,—
'T would be a great pleasure
    Sweet bird! to me.