ON THE DEATH of TWO FAVOURITE BIRDS

Involv'd in flame and suffocating breath A hapless bird was doom'd to sudden death; The female, touch'd at his uncommon fate, Survey'd the form of her disfigur'd mate; With drooping head, and shiv'ring wings she stood In all the agony of widowhood! At length, to grief's severest pow'r a prey, She dropt—and sigh'd her little soul away. Ye wedded birds, tho' rigid be your doom, Yet Anna watches at your early tomb; For you her flowing pity bursts restraint, Your dirge is utter'd in her soft complaint, Your elegy, without the poet's art, Is writ by sorrow on the purest heart.