asures of travel. 42

Who chirped in such strain
Of Greece, Italy, Spain
And Egypt, that men, when they heard,
Were mad to fly forth,
From their nests in the North,
And follow--the tail of the Bird. 48

Besides, it is true,
To _our_ wisdom is due
The knowledge of Sciences all;
And chiefly, those rare
Metaphysics of Air
Men 'Meteorology' call, 54

And men, in their words,
Acknowledge the Birds'
Erudition in weather and star;
For they say, "'Twill be dry,--
The swallow is high,"
Or, "Rain, for the Chough is afar." 60

'Twas the Rooks who taught men
Vast pamphlets to pen
Upon social compact and law,
And Parliaments hold,
As themselves did of old,
Exclaiming 'Hear, Hear,' for 'Caw, Caw.' 66

And whence arose Love?
Go, ask of the Dove,
Or behold how the Titmouse, unresting,
Still early and late
Ever sings by his mate,
To lighten her labors of nesting. 72

_Their_ bonds never gall,
Though the leaves shoot, and fall,
And the seasons roll round in their course,
For their marriage, each year,
Grows more lovely and dear;
And they know not decrees of Divorce. 78

That these things are truth
We have learned from our youth,
For our hearts to our customs incline,
As the rivers that roll
From the fount of our soul,
Immortal, unchanging, divine. 84

Man, simple and old,
In his ages of gold,
Derived from our teaching true light,
And deemed it his praise
In his ancestors' ways
To govern his footsteps aright. 90

But the fountain of woes,
Philosophy, rose;
And, what between reason and whim,
He has splintered our rules
Into sections and schools,
So the world is made bitter, for _him_. 96

But the birds, since on earth
They discovered the worth