A BIRD IN THE AIR.

Otago Witness, Issue 1927, 26 October 1888, Page 33

A BIRD IN THE AIR.

" A bird in the air has been whispering to me," One kind Christian lady says to another, With a smile of importance at afternoon tea ; Somebody's cousin knows somebody's brother, Who has picked up some scandal too spicy to

smother. " A bird in the air has been whispering to me j— " Ifc must be a vulture smelling corruption, Which flies to the spot, where'er it may be, For the doves and the lovebirds would '"ear the eruption ; But cloves and the vultures don't fly in conjunction. " A bird in the air has been whispering to me;—" Some black-coated magpie, who knows not the meaning Of things on the surface of which they can see, While a gossiping word here and there they are gleaning, About one of the friends they ought to be screening. " A bird in the air has been whispering to me ;— " A mocking-bird, may be, that laughs in derision From its own sheltered corner, upon a safe tree ;

Or an owl that in darkness alone haß its vision, Screeching and hooting abrond its decision. When birds in the air come whispering to you, Shoofc or encage them— don't stroke down their feathers, Don't feast and caress them whatever you do, Or they'll still fly at large in bhe face of all weathers ;— Oh, would on their legs were the strongest of tethers 1 Birds of ill omen— oh, birds of ill omen I Trying to coo Hko the soft doves so loving ; Oooing and cooing about men and women, While sorrow and misery move with your moving ; Birds in the air, 'tis false half your proving. —Alice.