202 SELECT POETRY

The boundless forest was my home—how hard my
fate must be,

Confined within this narrow cage—oh! set your
captive free !

Oh! if you love the pleasant woods, when silence
reigns around,

When the mighty shadows calmly sleep, like
giants on the ground ;

When the glow-worm sports her fairy lamp beside
the moonlit stream,

And the lofty trees in solemn state frown darkly
in the beam ;

When the blossomed thorn flings out its sweets,
and the minstrel nightingale

Pours forth his lay, and echo tells to distant hills
the tale;

And the soft mists hang a crown of gems on every
bush and tree ;

Oh! if you love the beauteous sight, then set your
captive free !

Oh! think how hard your lot would be, in this
dark room confined,

Without a single friend to cheer the anguish of
your mind ;

Severed from every kindred tie, and left alone to
wee ;

O’er perished joys, when every eye is closed in
tranquil sleep !

The glorious sunbeams to your heart no cheering
light would bring,

But heaviness and gloom would rest on every
pleasant thing: