A Captive Throstle Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDD EEDDFGHHDDIIJJCCKKLL MMNNOOPP OOOQQIIRMSTUUIIVVWWD DDDII II RRRWWBBMMIIXYZZMMIIA 2A2IIB2B2C2 RR D2D2E2E2DDF2F2MMIIII DD

Poor little mite with mottled breastA
Half fledged and fallen from the nestA
For whom this world hath just begunB
Who want to fly yet scarce can runB
Why open wide your yellow beakC
Is it for hunger or to speakC
To tell me that you fain would beD
Loosed from my hand to libertyD
-
Well you yourself decide your fateE
But be not too precipitateE
Which will you have If you agreeD
To quit the lanes and lodge with meD
I promise you a bed more softF
Even than that where you aloftG
First opened wondering eyes and foundH
A world of green leaves all aroundH
When you awake you straight shall seeD
A fresh turf green and velvetyD
Well of clear water sifted seedI
All things in short that bird can needI
And gentle beings far more fairJ
Than build on bough or skim through airJ
When all without is wet and bleakC
Laying against your cage their cheekC
To make you pipe shall coax and cooK
And bud their pretty lips at youK
And when the clammy winter rainL
Drips from the roof and clouds the paneL
When windows creak and chimneys roarM
And beggars wail outside the doorM
And stretch out fingers lank and thinN
You shall be safely housed withinN
And through the wood fire's flickering glowO
Watch drifting leaves or driving snowO
Till Marian pulls the shutters upP
And you go sleep and I go supP
-
But now suppose I let you goO
To rains that beat to winds that blowO
To heedless chance and prowling foeO
Mayhap this very day alasQ
You will be drowned in tangled grassQ
Or that escaped some slinking stoatI
May seize and suck your speckled throatI
Or hawk slow wheeling in the skyR
Your fluttering feeble wings descryM
And straightway downward flashing thenceS
Relish and rend your innocenceT
Should you survive and glad and strongU
Make autumn spring like with your songU
You will be lured the very firstI
Where netted berries bulge and burstI
And by their guardian caught aliveV
You may before I can arriveV
To bid him not be so unsparingW
Have paid the forfeit of your daringW
Time too will come there will not beD
Berry on bush or pod on treeD
Stripped be the hawthorn bare the hollyD
And all the boughs drip melancholyD
And you will have to scrape for foodI
Amid a frosty solitudeI
-
Which shall it be Now quick decideI
Safety confined or peril wideI
-
Then did the little bird replyR
'Tis true as yet I scarce can flyR
But oh it is such joy to tryR
Just as you came I was beginningW
To win my wings exult in winningW
To feel the promptings of the pinionB
The dawn of a divine dominionB
Over the empty air and overM
Fields of young wheat and breadths of cloverM
Pledge of a power to scale some dayI
My native elm tree's topmost sprayI
And mid the leaves and branches warmX
Sing far beyond the reach of harmY
And shall I barter gift like thisZ
For doled out joy and measured blissZ
For a trim couch and dainty fareM
Forfeit the freedom of the airM
Shall I exchange for punctual foodI
April's sweet loves and summer's broodI
The dewy nest 'neath twinkling starsA2
For crushing roof and cramping barsA2
No Come what chance or foe that mayI
Menace of death this very dayI
The weasel's clutch the falcon's swoopB2
What if these kill they do not coopB2
Autumn's worst ambush winter's rageC2
Are sweeter than the safest cage ''-
-
Off little mite I let you flyR
And do as I would be done byR
-
Nature within your heart hath sownD2
A wisdom wiser than my ownD2
And from your choice I learn to prizeE2
The birth right of unbounded skiesE2
Delightful danger of being freeD
Sweet sense of insecurityD
The privilege to risk one's allF2
On being nor captive caged nor thrallF2
The wish to range the wing to soarM
Past space behind through space beforeM
The ecstasy of unknown flightI
The doubt the danger the delightI
To range and roam unchained unvextI
Nor know what worlds will open nextI
And since Death waits both caged and freeD
To die at least of libertyD

Alfred Austin



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