You find out too late, that a bird in the hand
Is worth, at least, two on the bough.
"And we, from our height, looking down on you there,
By experience taught to be sage,—
Find, one pair of wings that are free in the air
Are worth two or three in the cage!
"But when our old master awakes, and shall find
The work you have just been about,
We hope, by the freedom we love, he'll be kind,
And spare you for letting us out.