Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE BIRD'S RELEASE, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE BIRD'S RELEASE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Go forth! For she is gone!
Last Line: But it wins her back no more!
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea
Subject(s): Birds; Cemeteries; India; Graveyards


Go forth! for she is gone!
With the golden light of her wavy hair,
She has gone to the fields of the viewless air,
She hath left her dwelling lone!

Her voice hath passed away!
It hath passed away like a summer breeze,
When it leaves the hills for the fair blue seas,
Where we may not trace its way.

Go forth, and like her be free!
With thy radiant wing, and thy glancing eye,
Thou hast all the range of the sunny sky,
And what is our grief to thee?

Is it aught e'en to her we mourn?
Doth she look on the tears by her kindred shed?
Doth she rest with the flowers o'er her gentle head,
Or float, on the light wind borne?

We know not -- but she is gone!
Her step from the dance, her voice from the song,
And the smile of her eye from the festal throng;
She hath left her dwelling lone!

When the waves at sunset shine,
We may hear thy voice amidst thousands more,
In the scented woods of our glowing shore;
But we shall not know 'tis thine!

Even so with the loved one flown!
Her smile on the starlight may wander by,
Her breath may be near in the wind's low sigh,
Around us -- but all unknown.

Go forth, we have loosed thy chain!
We may deck thy cage with the richest flowers
Which the bright day rears in our eastern bowers;
But thou wilt not be lured again.

Even thus may the summer pour
All fragrant things on the land's green breast,
And the glorious earth like a bride be dressed,
But it wins her back no more!





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