Catbird 



Then to mock the mockery, 

 Thou would'st bubble o'er in glee. 

 O thou cynic cat-bird, 

 Mimicking mankind, 

 All our whims and fancies 

 Laughing down the wind. 



Tragic, comic actor thou, 

 For thy stage an alder bough; 

 Now, some borrowed joyous note 

 Pouring from thy feigning throat; 

 Now, from waihng puss in sorrow 

 Her alarm cry thou dost borrow; 

 Till, to us bewildered, seems 

 Each but fancies of our dreams. 

 Mimic actor, cat-bird. 



Thus thy betters do, 

 Till 'tween good and evil 



Nothing seemeth true. 



Cat-bird, but I love thee still. 

 By the brook-side, 'neath the hill, 

 Laughing, mocking in the trees. 

 Feathered Mephistopheles; 

 Playing out thy varied part. 

 Mirroring the human heart; 

 Fretting, scolding, scornful, then 

 Bursting out, in joy, again! 



Good and evil cat-bird 

 On the alder spray, 



Like thy contradictions 



Run our lives away. M.J. Savage. 



45 



