Conscious and fearful of too deep a plunge.

The sparrows peep, and quit the sheltering eaves,

To seize the fair occasion; well they eye

The scattered grain, and thievishly resolved

To escape the impending famine, often scared

As oft return, a pert voracious kind.

Clean riddance quickly made, one only care

Remains to each, the search of sunny nook,

Or shed impervious to the blast. Resigned

To sad necessity, the cock foregoes