BIRDS AND POETS 
“Up and away for life! be fleet ! — 
The frost-king ties my fumbling feet, 
Sings in my ears, my hands are stones, 
Curdles the blood to the marble bones, 
Tugs at the heart-strings, numbs the sense, 
And hems in life with narrowing fence. 
Well, in this broad bed lie and sleep, — 
The punctual stars will vigil keep, — 
Embalmed by purifying cold; 
The wind shall sing their dead march old, 
The snow is no ignoble shroud, 
The moon thy mourner, and the cloud. 
“Softly, — but this way fate was pointing, 
’T was coming fast to such anointing, 
When piped a tiny voice hard by, 
Gay and polite, a cheerful cry, 
Chick-chickadeedee ! saucy note, 
Out of sound heart and merry throat, 
As if it said ‘Good day, good sir! 
Fine afternoon, old passenger! 
Happy to meet you in these places, | 
Where January brings few faces.’ , 
“This poet, though he lived apart, 
Moved by his hospitable heart, 
Sped, when I passed his sylvan fort, 
To do the honors of his court, 
As fits a feathered lord of land; 
Flew near, with soft wing grazed my hand, 
Hopped on the bough, then darting low, 
Prints his small impress on the snow, 
Shows feats of his gymnastic play, 
Head downward, clinging to the spray, 
“ Here was this atom in full breath, 
Hurling defiance at vast death; 
This scrap of valor just for play 
Fronts the north-wind in waistcoat gray, 
As if to shame my weak behavior; 
I greeted loud my little savior, 
‘You pet ! what dost here ? and what for ? 
In these woods, thy small Labrador, 
At this pinch, wee San Salvador! 
