On a GOLDFINCH starved to Death in his Cage. William Cowper Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. T14895 K027775.000 Cowper, William, 1731-1800. Poems: by William Cowper, of the Inner Temple, Esq. London printed for J. Johnson 1782 pp. 329-330. [4],367,[1]p. ; 8⁰.

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On a GOLDFINCH starved to Death in his Cage . 1. TIME was when I was free as air , The thistles downy seed my fare , My drink the morning dew ; I perch'd at will on ev'ry spray , My form genteel , my plumage gay , My strains for ever new . 2. But gawdy plumage , sprightly strain , And form genteel were all in vain And of a transient date , For caught and caged and starved to death , In dying sighs my little breath Soon pass'd the wiry grate . 3. Thanks , gentle swain , for all my woes , And thanks for this effectual close And cure of ev'ry ill ! More cruelty could none express , And I , if you had shewn me less Had been your pris'ner still .