| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Georgian Verse. 1909. | | | | On a Goldfinch Starved to Death in His Cage | | By William Cowper (1731–1800) |
| | | TIME was when I was free as air, | |
| The thistle’s downy seed my fare, | |
| My drink the morning dew; | |
| I perched at will on every spray, | |
| My form genteel, my plumage gay, | 5 |
| My strains for ever new. | |
| |
| But gaudy plumage, sprightly strain, | |
| And form genteel were all in vain, | |
| And of a transient date; | |
| For, caught and caged, and starved to death, | 10 |
| In dying sighs my little breath | |
| Soon passed the wiry grate. | |
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| Thanks, gentle swain, for all my woes, | |
| And thanks for this effectual close | |
| And cure of every ill! | 15 |
| More cruelty could none express; | |
| And I, if you had shown me less, | |
| Had been your prisoner still. | | | | |
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