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
!