THE SOUTH GEORGIAN LARK.
"The lark is the only land-bird found in the island of Georgia, south-east of Cape Horn, the whole surface of which is constantly covered with snow and ice."
Malte Brun.
Lone minstrel of yon dreary isle, that shares no genial ray,
There is no discord in thy tone, no winter in thy lay,
And sweetly doth thy warbled song flow from yon sterile shores,
While the Pacific's monstrous surge, in deafening thunder roars.
No kindred wing with thine is spread those rugged cliffs to dare,
For even the undaunted eagle shrinks to hang his eyrie there;
But thou, when rude and bitter blasts thy shivering bosom chill,
High soaring in a flood of light, dost merge the pang of ill.
Thou, mid a prisoning realm of ice, thy callow young dost rear,
For well a parent's heart may warm earth's most inclement sphere,
And when amid thy snow-wreathed nest thou hear'st their chirping strain,
Thou hast a magic spell to make the tempest's anger vain.
Man should thy pupil be. Draw near, thou of the lordly mind,
Whose will the unmeasured universe in links of thought can bind;
Yet still beneath a transient woe, ingloriously dost droop,
Or shuddering at the frown of fate, on sky-borne pinion stoop:
What though Misfortune's shaft severe thy lingering hope destroys,
Till only some pale frost-flower stands to mark thy smitten joys;
What though Affliction's keenest dart thy inmost soul hath stoned,
Still heavenward lift the lay of praise, like the lone Georgian bird.