Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE PARROT, by CHARLES WILLIAMS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE PARROT, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Whiles, when I sit alone, I hear my soul
Last Line: ... Then I cover it up, lest the dream should drive me mad.
Subject(s): Birds; Parrots; Solitude; Loneliness


WHILES, when I sit alone, I hear my soul,
At the far other end of the room that is me,
Head cocked aside, in vacant persistency,
Trying over some word it has caught from me, some toll
Of my daily tongue, some little habitual phrase
That was plaintive in me, but ironical and unkind
From that iron beak, some phrase as It's not that I mind
Or the silly I think he needn't ... And then of the days
I dream when my journey must come and I remove
From the streets of Time to the shires of Eternity,
Those counties sprinkled with towns, and the heavenly sea,
And the gardens of peace, and the high strong house of Love.
Will this then come with me also, and still with its air
Of inquisitive cunning go practising over again
All it has learnt from me here, and its talk be plain?
Will it fly through those gardens and clamour and haunt me there
Among the trees, and all shall know it for mine?
For mine? or for me,—loosed to my doom in that sky?
Here a cage and a cover I have, but there the birds fly;
Soaring and sinking and resting in joy divine,
Each with its own call, happy, busy, and glad,—
There a dove, there a lark, there even a ravaging hawk,
But only this parrot for me with its hideous squawk,
... Then I cover it up, lest the dream should drive me mad.





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