Classic Poem

In early spring I watched two sparrows build,
And then their nest within the thickest hedge
Construct, two small dear mates within whose life
And love, foreshadowed and foreshadowing, I
Had some sweet underpart. And so at last
The little round blue eggs were laid, and her post
The mother brooding kept, while far and wide
He sought the food for both, or, weariness
Compelling her, he changed and kept his post
Within the nest, and she flew forth in turn.
One day, a schoolboy, or some other, came
And caught her, took the eggs, and tore the nest,
And went his way. Then, as I stood looking
Through gathering tears and sobs, all swiftly winged,
Food-bearing, came the lover back, and flew
Into the thickest hedge. How shall we say
How the sweet mate lost forever, the ruined home,
And the hope of young, with all life's life and light
Quenched at a moment forever, were to him?
For grief like this grows dumb, deeper than words,
And man and animal are only one.