ON AMANDA'S SINGING BIRD[166]
A native of the Canary Islands, confined in a small cage
Happy in my native grove,
I from spray to spray did rove,
Fond of music, full of love.
Dressed as fine as bird could be,
Every thing that I did see,
Every thing was mirth to me.
There had I been, happy still,
With my mate to coo and bill
In the vale, or on the hill.
But the cruel tyrant, man,
(Tyrant since the world began)
Soon abridged my little span.
How shall I the wrong forget!
Over me he threw a net;
And I am his prisoner yet.
To this rough Bermudian shore
Ocean I was hurried o'er,
Ne'er to see my country more!
To a narrow cage confined,
I, who once so gaily shined,
Sing to please the human kind.