Page:Songs of the Affections.pdf/261

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Thou hast done well, O thou bright sea-bird! There is joy where the song of the lark is heard, With the dancing of waters through copse and dell, And the bee's low tune in the fox-glove's bell.

Thou hast done well:—Oh! the seas are lone, And the voice they send up hath a mournful tone; A mingling of dirges and wild farewells, Fitfully breathed through its anthem-swells.

—The proud bird rose as the words were said— The rush of his pinion swept o'er my head, And the glance of his eye, in its bright disdain, Spoke him a child of the haughty main.

He hath flown from the woods to the ocean's breast, To his throne of pride on the billow's crest! —Oh! who shall say, to a spirit free, "There lies the pathway of bliss for thee?"