Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-04-30
SPRING NOTES.



THE BLUE BIRD.
IN tropic summers endless smile
j hibernate on some bright isle
Scme coral reef that slowly grew
From oceans sunless depths to view,
which tiny masOns upward urge
10 reach the stir Of bToeze and surge.
But, only a sOiourner there,
In spring yoam for northern afr,
For greener 8ward Of northern earth,
For off orchard OF my birth,
For dim seen North stars mystic ray,
hor apple. blooms Of Northern May,
Whose balmy scents make vain, in soOth,
The gaudier iloras OF the South.
We birds of migrant pinion know
The gulf streams of the upper air,
Which poleward the Equator's glow
Through azure deeps of heaven bear.
My. .punctual flight knows no delay,
1 disappOint not bards Of May,
Who listen I'm their Auburn dells
Till on the breeze my warble sweps.
THE ROBIN.
Long, long ere russet nature weaves
Her meshes green of vernal leaves
In orchards bare ] sing again
MY eve song sweet, my old refrain,
Which used in forest days TO bless
At sunsets hour the wilderness,
While frogs are piping I'm the marsh
Their qnerulous spring-notes harsh'
THE oRIoLE.
Though fitly plumed for trOpic zone,
live not I'm its glare alone,
But love the North STAR region well,
And there when May winds blow, dwell.
More dear than palm the elm TO me, -
With its pCnsive bOughs that sway Va
Der the village street in May,
When on the south wind rides the bee.
I deity weave my pendulous nest
From sly marauders far away,
So placed they can not IL mOlest.
On the elm trees delicate spray
Hang its net-hke meshes, finely wOvo
Ol housewite's skeins, my treasure troves
OF fax, tow, hemp and silk, which
Appropriate, with foray sly,
From teatherless man, my lawful game.
My horsehair stitching puts to shame
The handiwork of maid and dame.
Then, WHOM my hammock fine is done,
And swings secure, in shade and sun,
From the elm or apple bough's extreme
Her spotted eggs my gentle mate,
Ger watched by me, doth incubnte,
Caressed ali day by breeze ana beam.
For her foray all the air,
To fetch her morsels rich and rare.
Meantime, with mellow whistle wild,
My wood note sweet, she is beguiled.
The rustics watch my gorgeous trim
Flashing through elm boughs greenly dim;
With wondering vision they behold
My tropic plumage, black and gold,
On genuine song bird feathers fine,
Not Oft are wont to geam like mine;
But l, despite my sumptuous vest,
All ears can with my song arrest,
My fiute-note cadence wild of May,
Heard when in soft winds branches sway,
And nature basks in holiday.
l am not proud-a lordling stole
The rich hues of the Oriole
For livery-they were my wear
Ere caste was known, and e'en ere man
On earth his sad career began.
Haunted them in summer air,
And haply, when his race is done,
still shall flash them in the sun.
THE HuNMING BIRD.
Haunter of summer nature boon,
Lancing with gentle tongue the flowers,
Which hang dew-pearled in mornings bow
ers,
Winged emerald of amethyst,
by swiftness turned to gold green mist,
The tiny form quick glances DER
The continent from shore to shore,
From sea like bay, with Arctic strand,
To far savannahs' breezes bland.
THE WILD GOOSE.
For myriad years my migrant wing,
At advent of the fall and spring,
The ether hath been furrOwing.
Austral heat and Arctic cold
Stunning with adventure bold.
Once all this new world hemisphere
Stretched wide and wild, q desert drear,
With streams and lakes and tarns inlaid
Green -fringed by pine and hemlock's shad
Marauders sly from will and tswn
Now harry me when fiuttering down
On watery caravansera
At night to rest and feed and play,
Ere resume my airy way.
Secure in Arctic circles dim
And lone bayou, 1 breed and swim;
All earth beside is foemans ground
Where at my peril am found.
THE NIGHT.HAwK.
/ am diver of the air,
"a plunger through the sunsets gold;
mount till ether thin and rare
My respiration doth withhold.
Then from the zenith rush sheer down
To roofs of underlying town
With dissonant roar, whence mp again
wheel into the azure airs domain;
ON swift vibrating ptnions raised
Whence bird of Jove hath seldom gaZed.
peer into the city's street,
Where men like emmets mix and meet.
All glad am for wings of might
10 soar back to the zenith's height,
Through glorious prfvacies of light
To range and reVel at my will,
Snatching OF insect game my I'LL.
THE OWL.
Here in this lone bucolic glen
An eremite, have my dem
The hollow of an ancient tree
Is castle, domicile for me.
Most like night and stars and moon
And midnight weird-of night the noon.
To brOolilets babble through the dark
Delightedly my lulled ears bark;
The dews nocturnal mists distill
With dampness nll my feathers I'LL.
futter forth with loud tuwhoo
Amid the silence and the dew,
Raiding ON roost and farmstead near,
While drowses sleepy chanticleer,
No more with clarion shrill to cheer,
AS morning breaks, his masters ear.
care not Tor vile mans abuse,
Who dubs me mystic and recluse;
Far from his haunts / make my camp
In solitude of treey swamp,
Whence send forth my solos till
With rancous walls ring wood and hill.
The maid of wisdom's buckler bore
My large eyed face in days of yore;
My ancient Attic kindred flew
Engraved on coins the wide world through.
The fixed regard of my great eyes
Let men assume to pass for wise
The unfeathered biped despise.
Meantime revolving earth warns me,
When back to hurry to my tree;
In sylvan covert shy withdrawn
blink the rose -streaks cool OF dawn,
Hiding, as its aerial gold
is over eastern l,tops rolled,
Quenching in its refulgent stream,