Classic Poem

Arabia's Bird, it's spicy Tomb and Nest,
It's glossy Plumage, and effulgent Crest,
Which, Fancy only seeing, Fame relates,
Not Asia breeds, but Claudian's Muse creates.
And while the Charms his brilliant Lines impart
Glow with his Fire, and vary with his Art;
The sweetly animated Form appears
To scorn his Term of twice five hundred Years;
But young to latest Time shall Age beguile,
And boast the Conflagration for it's Pyle.

Whether our Parents, yet unfall'n, beheld
The Nonpareil in Eden's blissful Field;
Or if descending Nature since has wrought
A gay Production like the Poet's Thought,
The flaming Suns of Florida disclose
A painted Warbler on the living Boughs,
Claudian might deign to sing — then Ah! how hard
The fairer Bird shou'd gain the feebler Bard.
Yet while his real Glories fix the Sight;
While his sweet Notes the trembling Ear delight,
This Wonder of the Grove shall soon despise
The Gloss of Fable and melodious Lyes;
Shall best evince his Fame, by being shown,
And shame ev'n Roman Colours with his own,
If sparkling T OWNSHEND'S Smiles my Theme rejoice,
While my low Strain's ennobled by my Choice.

From no fantastic Birth the Bird assumes
His easy Flow of Shape, and gorgeous Plumes:
No spicy Nest, conspiring with the Sun,
Calcines the Old, to kindle up the Young;
But sweetest Flames suggest the dear Increase,
And fruitful Love renews the dazling Race.
Lo! from the azure Egg's elliptic Cell,
Amaz'd, to gradual Life the Embryos swell;
Yet while the callow Offspring safely dream,
Rock'd in the little Nest's involving Frame;
Or, 'midst the Orange-tree's seclusest Bow'rs,
Inhale the Odours of transpiring Flow'rs,
No Streak, no Plume, instructs the keenest Sight,
To hope the future Blaze and Breaks of Light.
Twelve following Signs the sleeker Plumes declare
A plain, but neat Inhabitant of Air,
Scarcely distinct amidst the flitting Throng,
And faint his Notes essay a feeble Song:
But when anew the circling Seasons shine,
As Sol to us, or we to Sol incline,
The glossy Feathers, varying to the Sight,
Attempt to part the diff'rent Rays of Light;
Yet, incompleat to form the perfect Scene,
The wav'ring Colours fix in central Green;
While a faint Yellow in the Front prevails,
Swells o'er the Breast, and tapers as it fails.

Thrice vernal Suns the fetter'd Glebe unty;
Soft Show'rs distill, and softer Breezes sigh,
When Nature's matchless Arts the Plume dispose,
And lo! the Bird with dazling Splendor glows!
Tho' less his richest Tints may here surprise,
By slow Advance familiar to the Eyes.
His chearful Music quavers thro' the Groves,
And with his Bloom his Melody improves.
Now haply first he melts with tender Fires,
And feels a Love his Lustre soon inspires;
For ah! what flying Prude cou'd Rigour show
To such a Chorister! and such a Beau!
The dusky Citron, that his Breast o'erspread,
From the bright Orange flames to deeper Red;
Tho' various oft the feasted Eyes behold
The pure Vermilion gleam with Streaks of Gold.
Round his bright Optics scarlet Circles rise,
And, elegant, inclose his jetty Eyes.
His Head and Neck, so late of verdant Hue,
From a fresh Surface beam a dazling Blue;
Whence a fair Cape of brightest Olive springs,
And slides adown his green, his glossy Wings;
His glossy Wings with mild Effulgence shine,
Frequent divided by a crimson Line;
The Feathers of his Tail the Verdure share,
Spread, as he ploughs the flowing Surge of Air.

What other nameless Shades the Songster grace!
What ample Glories! in how small a Space!
The flaming Redbird stimulates the Sight,
Martial his Garb, and resolute his Fight:
Tho' shrill, yet sweet, his whistling Trumpet flows,
And thrilling Echos swell the liquid Close:
While deep his downy Vesture seems to drink
The Tinctures of the Lychnis and the Pink.
Fair as the Bluebird skims the golden Scene,
While glancing Suns exalt his Hue serene,
Beyond the Hyacinth his Azure shows,
Or like a bright Convolvulus he glows.
The pretty Greenbird oft the Eye deceives,
His vivid Lustre blended with the Leaves;
And various Larks their glist'ning Pinions ope,
Or boast their Breasts resembling Heliotrope :
But Nonpareil excells in ev'ry Die,
This flying Prism, this Tulip of the Sky.
Nature, with some Reserve, to others kind,
To diff'rent Graces some Defect has join'd:
The crested Peacock spreads, with Beauty vain,
The eye-form'd Glories of his burnish'd Train,
Which, richly fring'd, the Nerves of Vision chear,
'Till shrill his Screams discordant pierce the Ear.
Fair arch-neck'd Swans, with fabled Dirge so sweet,
Shade in the Waters their ungraceful Feet:
While Parrot prates indeed, a tawdry Show,
Witty and fine as many a modern Beau:
But crawls uncouth, like Beau with Ails distrest,
Strange to that easy Air that crowns the rest.
To thee, without a Fine, her Favours flow,
Thine is the Shape and Song, the Mien and Show,
Clear from Defect, nor with a Blemish foul,
And sweet Proportion finishes the whole.
Catesby the Term of painted Finch conferr'd,
And Carolinians call'd him Rainbow-bird:
'Till curious Dart , attentive to display
The early Wing, and nurse the Infant Lay;
As in the tuneful Room, with chearful Ease,
She cull'd their Food, or conquer'd their Disease,
The Bird's unequall'd Charms consider'd well,
And nam'd him, what he is, the Nonpareil;
Who Light's all-mingled Dyes distinct displays,
Shines on our Suns, and beautifies our Days.

But when the Days contract, the Region cools,
And Winter in his Turn, tho' gently, rules;
Conscious perhaps his Lustre might decay,
Beneath the Languors of a feebler Ray;
To sleepless Soils in hotter Climes he speeds,
And, cherish'd by the Sun, with him recedes.

Mean Time the Object of his yearly Vows
Emits no Radiance worthy such a Spouse:
Sullen and mute amidst the lattic'd Frame,
She hates Confinement, like a modern Dame.
A languid Yellowness her Breast assumes,
A dimly varying Green her other Plumes.
Thus Juno 's Bird his Partner might contemn,
And thus the varnish'd Cock his homely Hen;
The Summer Drake in Beauty far prevails,
And thro' the speechless World the gen'rous Males,
Of such excelling Form, or brighter Hue,
Might tempt us to suspect their Females woo;
But sighing Men by sad Experience find,
The total Sex reveng'd in Woman-kind.

Thus the ambitious Bard prefum'd to treat
The fair Descendent of the Good and Great;
Unrivall'd thro' the aromatic Shade,
The peerless Bird attends a peerless Maid,
Chearful from Innocence, with Freedom wise,
Of gayly beaming Wit, and sparkling Eyes,
Neglecting little Pride for gen'rous Ease,
Her noble Lineage her remotest Praise.
Ye steady Gales quick waft him o'er the Main!
Ye timely Show'rs provide him cordial Rain!
Still be his Galley fleet, his Cargo rare,
Who guards the pretty Creature to the Fair.
Fed by her Hand, and perch'd beside her Breast,
The fragrant Bird shall scorn a spicy Nest,
A chearful Captive chant his happy Days,
Fond to divert, and passionate to please.
Then, while th'officious Warbler Y OU regard,
Pardon, accomplish'd Nymph, a ruder Bard;
Whose rustic Lays, that wrong his glitt'ring Theme,
Rush worthless to thy Sight, and snatch thy Name.