Page:The works of Anna Laetitia Barbauld volume 1.djvu/362

 , helpless thing, I cannot harm thee now; Depart in peace, thy little life is safe, For I have scanned thy form with curious eye, Noted the silver line that streaks thy back, The azure and the orange that divide Thy velvet sides; thee, houseless wanderer, My garment has enfolded, and my arm Felt the light pressure of thy hairy feet; Thou hast curled round my ringer; from its tip, Precipitous descent! with stretched out neck, Bending thy head in airy vacancy, This way and that, inquiring, thou hast seemed To ask protection; now, I cannot kill thee. Yet I have sworn perdition to thy race,