O! I will not thy trust betray,
But closely thy secret I will keep.
“I ’ve three little tender things,
That have never used their wings!
I left them there, at home, fast asleep.”
Then, why art thou here, my bird,
Away from thy young, helpless brood?
“To pay thee with a song,
Just to let me pass along,
Nor harm me, as I look for their food!”
[THE BIRD UNCAGED.]
She opened the cage, and away there flew
A bright little bird, as a short adieu
It hastily whistled, and passed the door,
And felt that its sorrowful hours were o’er.
An anthem of freedom it seemed to sing;
To utter its joy for an outspread wing,—
That now it could sport in the boundless air,
And might go any and every where.
And Anna rejoiced in her bird’s delight;
But her eye was wet, as she marked its flight;
Till, this was the song that she seemed to hear;
And, merrily warbled, it dried the tear:
“I had a mistress, and she was kind,
In all, but keeping her bird confined;
She ministered food and drink to me,
But, O I was pining for liberty!
“My fluttering bosom she loved to smooth;
While the heart within it, she could not soothe:
I sickened and longed for the wildwood breeze,
My feathery kindred, and fresh green trees.