Samuel Kettell, ed. Specimens of American Poetry. 1829.
By To a RobinWilliam Cliffton (17721799)
F
Escaped, ah! how welcome the day,
Sweet Bob with his innocent song,
Is return’d to his favorite spray.
As o’er the bleak mountain it pass’d,
He hied to the thicket, poor bird!
And shrunk from the pitiless blast.
Did she melt at thy comfortless lot?
Her hand, was it stretch’d to thy aid,
As thou pick’dst at the door of her cot?
May it howl not around her green grove;
Be a bosom so gentle and kind,
Only fann’d by the breathings of love.
With rapture, the deed shall requite,
That gave to my window again
Poor Bob and his song of delight.