Poetic Expressions for the Eagle and Whip-poor-will
The White-headed Eagle
Expressly for The Oologist.
- Behold in yon skies, with piercing eyes,
- The noble king of birds;
- Who swift on the wing, his glance doth fling
- O'er space untold by words.
- Now he pauses on high, quick to descry
- Beneath him his victim;
- When with a wild dash; as quick as a flash,
- Down through the air doth he skim,
- As with a fierce shriek, he opens his beak,
- His victim to devour
-
- Again in the air, - this bird's broadest lair,
- From view he circles above,
- His piercing sight keen, from his height supreme
- Making objects doubly acute.
- Not a cloud in the sky; In the air not a sigh,
- On this cool, pleasant, calm day.
- The water is clear; not a sound do you hear
- But the scream of the Eagle far away.
-
- His head and his tail their white do unveil,
- As he proudly sweeps along.
- With pinions wide spread and uplifted head,
- Ignoring all birds of their song.
W.
June 1875. Oologist 1(4).
The Whip-poor-will.
- On a low bough, above the window sill,
- Sang yester eve a lonely whip-poor-will;
- An allegretto strain until the close,
- Repeated o'er and o'er without repose.
-
- And did he weary of the woods, and long
- To pipe in haunts of men a little song
- And wed it to the moonlight pale and still?
- Whip-poor-will! whip-poor-will! whip-poor-will!
-
- Ah! who was Will that he should come to woe?
- Perchance, a Quaker bird - t'was long ago -
- The changing year their promises fulfill
- To every May is sent the whip-poor-will.
-
- In tender shades of green the earth is drest,
- The sun sifts gold around the simplest nest;
- And all the bird are joyous; why must he
- Mid cherry blossoms pipe a threnody?
-
- Ah! who can tell - not all in night time sing,
- Not all are larks with sunward soaring wing;
- In nature's concert each his part must fill,
- And the great master taught the Whip-poor-will.
October 1883. Ornithologist and Oologist 8(10): 80. Reprinted from the Boston Journal, June, ' 83.
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