Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE PARROT AND THE EAGLE by JOHN COWPER POWYS

First Line: A PARROT TO AN EAGLE CAME
Last Line: "TO LEARN TO BE AFRAID."
Subject(s): BIRDS; EAGLES; FABLES; FLIGHT; PARROTS; ALLEGORIES; FLYING;
A Parrot to an Eagle came
And boasted that he knew
The language and the ways of men
And things both old and new.

The Eagle looked him up and down
With eyes like burning coal:
"Fly with me then towards the sun
And hear the thunders roll."

"I am afraid," the Parrot said,
The Eagle laughed full high: --
"That is a word I have not read
In air or sea or sky.

"Back to your perch; these lonely heights
Were not for Parrots made;
I would not leave my Eagle flights
To learn to be afraid."



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