Читать книгу Come Hither: A Collection of Rhymes and Poems for the Young of All Ages онлайн

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Come pretty bird, there's dainty food,

There's cherry, plum, and strawberry,

In my red cage, my wizard cage,

The cage I made for thee.'

"The bird flew down, the bird flew in,

The cherries they were dried and dead,

She tied him with a silken skein

To a perch of molten lead;

And first most dire he did complain,

And next he sulky sad did fall,

Chained to his perch, his burning perch,

He would not sing at all.

"There came an elf, a silent elf,

A silver wand hung by his side,

And when that wand lay on the door,

The door did open wide.

The pretty bird with beak he tore

That silken skein, then out flew he,

From that red cage, that greedy cage,

That cage of wizardry."

Ruth Manning-Sanders

121

Thou simple Bird what mak'st thou here to play?

Look, there's the Fowler, prethee come away.

Dost not behold the Net? Look there 'tis spread,

Venture a little further thou art dead.

Is there not room enough in all the Field

For thee to play in, but thou needs must yield

To the deceitful glitt'ring of a Glass,