[Translation] 2. THE JACK DAW. Vincent Bourne 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. 337-339. [4],367,[1]p. ; 8⁰.

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[ Translation ] 2. THE JACK DAW. 1. THERE is a bird who by his coat , And by the hoarseness of his note , Might be suppós'd a crow ; A great frequenter of the church , Where bishop-like he finds a perch , And dormitory too . 2. Above the steeple shines a plate , That turns and turns , to indicate From what point blows the weather ; Look up — your brains begin to swim , 'Tis in the clouds — that pleases him , He chooses it the rather . 3. Fond of the speculative height , Thither he wings his airy flight , And thence securely sees The bustle and the raree-show That occupy mankind below , Secure and at his ease . 4. You think no doubt he sits and muses On future broken bones and bruises , If he should chance to fall ; No not a single thought like that Employs his philosophic pate , Or troubles it at all . 5. He sees that this great roundabout The world , with all its motley rout , Church , army , physic , law , Its customs and its businesses Are no concern at all of his , And says , what says he ? Caw . 6. Thrice happy bird ! I too have seen Much of the vanities of men , And sick of having seen e'm , Would chearfully these limbs resign For such a pair of wings as thine , And such a head between 'em .