THE ROOKERY. Anonymous 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. T124631 1073 K099398.000 Mendez, Moses. A collection of the most esteemed pieces of poetry: that have appeared for several years. With variety of originals, by the late Moses Mendez, Esq; and other contributors to Dodsley's collection. To which this is intended as a supplement. London printed for Richardson and Urquhart 1767 pp. 306-307. [8],320p. ; 8⁰.

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THE ROOKERY . OH thou who dwell'st upon the bough , Whose tree does wave its verdant brow , And spreading shades the distant brook , Accept these lines , dear sister rook ! And when thou'st read my mournful lay , Extend thy wing and fly away , Lest pinion-maim'd by fiery shot , Thou should'st like me bewail thy lot ; Lest in thy rook'ry be renew'd The tragic scene which here I view'd . The day declin'd , the evening breeze Gently rock'd the silent trees , While spreading o'er my people nest , I hush'd my callow young to rest : When suddenly an hostile sound , Explosion dire ! was heard around : And level'd by the hand of fate , The angry bullets pierc'd my mate ; I saw him fall from spray to spray , Till on the distant ground he lay : With tortur'd wing he beat the plain , And never caw'd to me again . Many a neighbour , many a friend , Deform'd with wounds , invok'd their end : All screaming omen'd notes of woe , 'Gainst man our unelenting foe : These eyes beheld my pretty brood , Flutt'ring in their guiltless blood : While trembling on the shatter'd tree , At length the gun invaded me ; But wayward fate , severely kind , Refus'd the death I wish'd to find : Oh ! farewel pleasure ; peace , farewel , And with the gory raven dwell . Was it for this I shun'd retreat , And fix'd near man my social seat ! For this destroy'd the insect train That eat unseen the infant grain ! For this , with many an honest note , Issuing from my artless throat , I chear'd my lady , list'ning near , Working in her elbow chair !