The Caged Bird. (From The Villager's Verse-Book.)

Oh, who would keep a little bird confined, When cowslip bells are nodding in the wind; When every hedge as with "good morrow" rings, And, heard from wood to coombe, the blackbird sings! Oh, who would keep a little bird confined, In his cold wiry prison? Let him fly, And hear him sing: How sweet is liberty!