Maurice Browne

Desiderio captum, sive suo sive aliorum

CAGED bird, prisoner, on thine own heart feeding,

What shall I say to thee? What comfort is in me

For thee, whose wings, whose heart, are bleeding, bleeding,

From the hands that clipped and the unsatisfied mouth feeding

Angrily, hungrily?

Caged bird, prisoner, insatiately feeding,

What have they done to thee? whose were the hands that caged thee,

Clipped thy wings, thy wings, and left them bleeding,

Pinionless, powerless of flight from the mouth feeding

Hungrily, wearily?

Caged bird, prisoner, wingless and weary of feeding,

Whence did they capture thee? what heaven heard thy rapture

First, ere captivity set thy small heart bleeding,

Bleeding, unconsumed beneath the sad mouth feeding

Wearily, ceaselessly?

Caged bird, prisoner, when done thy woeful feeding,

Whither wilt thou fly? in what deep, what height,

Hide thy maimed body, thy mouth stayed from feeding,

Thy songless mouth, thy heart bleeding, bleeding

Deathlessly, hopelessly?