THE SPARROW’S ADDRESS TO THE COOK MAIDS.
YE gentle cookmaids, oh! in pity spare,
The various fragments from your plenteous board
The smallest pickings from your sumptuous fare,
To us a splendid dinner would afford.
Full many a feather’d songster of the air,
Languid and drooping, seeks your shelt’ring door;
Made tame and confident by scantiest fare,
They hope to taste a little of your store.
Oh! do not in the dust-hole’s ample waste,
Those dainties empty with a careless air;
And do not for excuse say, that in haste,
To save these trifles you’ve no time to spare.
For oh! reflect, that many a hungry cur
Is watching, with a pity-moving eye;
Which turns, imploring, every way you stir,
And trusts his craving wants you will supply.
And many a starving cat, with mournful mew,
And anxious purrings to attract regard;
In which, perchance, she sings forth praise of you,
And hopes a little fragment as reward.
And many a child would gladly eat the crumbs,
Which from the great men’s table daily fall;
Haply, a bit of pudding fill’d with plumbs,
Which would rejoice him, were it e’er so small.
And lastly, many a wan and feeble man,
Whose life-time’s labour still hath left him poor,
And now, when nearly run his earthly span,
Is come to beg his morsel at your door.
In time, reflect, what may be e’en your fate,
When coachman John becomes thy wedded love;
From this wide kitchen, ah! how chang’d thy state,
To lofty attic story you remove.
There, when your children shall around you stand,
For whose provision you so careful save;
All drest so neatly by industrious hand,
Tho’ hard you work, this comfort shall you have.
When plenty grac’d the board you’ll smiling say,
And daintiest cakes it was my lot to share;
I never turn’d the indigent away,
For every bounteous table some can spare.
Yet never did I wrong my honor’d lord,
Or squander aught committed to my trust;
Tho’ well my pantry it was always stor’d,
I never wasted, I was ever just.
And then shall every warbling songster’s note,
Most sweetly carol near thy window high;
And on the air shall praises of you float,
Ascending upward, till they reach the sky
(Caroline Maxwell)
More Poetry from Caroline Maxwell:
Caroline Maxwell Poems based on Topics: Love, Fate & Destiny, Man, Time, Haste, Trust, Cats, Work & Career, Children- The Suppliant (Caroline Maxwell Poems)
- Gowry's Conspiracy (Caroline Maxwell Poems)
- Rosetta (Caroline Maxwell Poems)
- The Heir Of Tyrconnel; Or, The Threatening Spectre (Caroline Maxwell Poems)
- The Old Man In Blue (Caroline Maxwell Poems)
- Sir Stephen - Part II (Caroline Maxwell Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Love Poems, Man Poems, Time Poems, Fate & Destiny Poems, Work & Career Poems, Children Poems, Trust Poems, Haste Poems, Cats PoemsBased on Keywords: coachman, songster, indigent, life-time, daintiest, mew, shelt, plumbs, pickings, pity-moving, scantiest