The Redbreast and the Sparrow
Perch’d on a tree, hard by a rural cot,
A redbreast singing cheer’d the humble spot;
A sparrow on the thatch in critic spleen
Thus took occasion to reprove the strain:
“Dost thou,” cried he, “thou dull dejected thing,
Presume to emulate the birds of spring?
Can thy weak warbling dare approach the thrush
Or blackbird’s accents in the hawthorn bush?
Or with the lark dost thou poor mimic, vie,
Or nightingale’s unequal’d melody?
These other birds possessing twice thy fire
Have been content in silence to admire.”
“With candor judge,” the minstrel bird replied,
“Nor deem my efforts arrogance or pride;
Think not ambition makes me act this part,
I only sing because I love the art:
I envy not, indeed, but much revere
Those birds whose fame the test of skill will bear;
I feel no hope arising to surpass,
Nor with their charming songs my own to class;
Far other aims incite my humble strain.
Then surely I your pardon may obtain,
While I attempt the rural vale to move
By imitating of the lays I love.”