Читать книгу The Illustrated London Reading Book - Various - Страница 5

The deep affections of the breast,

That Heaven to living things imparts,

Are not exclusively possess'd

By human hearts.

A parrot, from the Spanish Main,

Full young, and early-caged, came o'er,

With bright wings, to the bleak domain

Of Mulla's shore.

To spicy groves, where he had won

His plumage of resplendent hue—

His native fruits, and skies, and sun—

He bade adieu.

For these he changed the smoke of turf,

A heathery land and misty sky;

And turn'd on rocks and raging surf

His golden eye.

But, petted, in our climate cold,

He lived and chatter'd many a day;

Until, with age, from green and gold

His wings grew grey.

At last, when blind and seeming dumb,

He scolded, laugh'd, and spoke no more,

A Spanish stranger chanced to come

To Mulla's shore.

He hail'd the bird in Spanish speech,

The bird in Spanish speech replied:

Flapt round his cage with joyous screech—

Dropt down and died.