VAGRANT VERSE

Southland Times, Issue 18835, 31 May 1920, Page 4

VAGRANT VERSE

THOU TOO HAST TRAVELLED Thou too hast travelled, little fluttcriug thing— Hast seen the world, and now thy weary wing Thou too must rest. But much, my little bird, could’st thou but tell, I’d give to know why here thou lik’st so well To build thy nest. For thou has passed fair places in thy bight; A world lay all beneath thee where to light; And, strange thy taste, Of all the van’d scenes that met thine eye— Of a'l the spots for building 'neath the sky— To choose this waste .... Nay, if thy mind be sound, I need not ask. Since here I see ihee working at thy task With wing and beak. A well-laid scheme doth that small head contain. At which thou work’st, brave bird, with might and main, Nor more need’s! seek. In truth, I rather take it thou hast got By instinct wise much sense about thy lot, And hast small care Whether an Eden or a desert be Thy home so thou remain’st alive and free To skim the air. . . . —From “To a Swallow Building Under Our Eaves.” by Jane Welsh Carlyle.