Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE BIRDS OF PASSAGE, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE BIRDS OF PASSAGE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Birds, joyous birds of the wandering wing!
Last Line: So may we reach our bright home at last!
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea
Subject(s): Birds; Women


BIRDS, joyous birds of the wandering wing!
Whence is it ye come with the flowers of spring?
"We come from the shores of the green old Nile,
From the land where the roses of Sharon smile,
From the palms that wave through the Indian sky,
From the myrrh-trees of glowing Araby.

"We have swept o'er cities in song renowned --
Silent they lie with the deserts round!
We have crossed proud rivers whose tide hath rolled
All dark with the warrior-blood of old;
And each worn wing hath regained its home,
Under peasant's roof-tree or monarch's dome."

And what have ye found in the monarch's dome,
Since last ye tra versed the blue sea's foam? --
We have found a change, we have found a pall,
And a gloom o'ershadowing the banquet's hall,
And a mark on the floor as of life-drops spilt --
Naught looks the same, save the nest we built!"

O joyous birds! it hath still been so;
Through the halls of kings doth the tempest go!
But the huts of the hamlet lie still and deep,
And the hills o'er their quiet a vigil keep:
Say what have ye found in the peasant's cot
Since last ye parted from that sweet spot? --

"A change we have found there -- and many a change!
Faces and footsteps, and all things strange!
Gone are the heads of the silvery hair,
And the young that were have a brow of care,
And the place is hushed where the children played --
Naught looks the same, save the nest we made!"

Sad is your tale of the beautiful earth,
Birds that o'ersweep it in power and mirth!
Yet through the wastes of the trackless air
Ye have a guide, and shall we despair?
Ye over desert and deep have passed --
So may we reach our bright home at last!





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