A Wren's Nest

Among the dwellings framed by birds

In field or forest with nice care,

Is none that with the little wren's

In snugness may compare.

No door the tenement requires,

And seldom needs a labored roof;

Yet is it to the fiercest sun

Impervious and storm-proof.

So warm, so beautiful withal,

In perfect fitness for its aim,

That to the kind by special grace,

There instinct surely came.

And when for their abodes they seek

An opportune recess,

The hermit has no finer eye

For shadowy quietness.

These find, 'mid ivied abbey walls,

A canopy in some still nook;

Others are pent-housed by a brae

That overhangs a brook.

There to the brooding bird her mate

Warbles by fits his low, clear song;

And by the busy streamlet both

Are sung to all day long.

Or in sequestered lanes they build,

Where, till the flitting bird's return,

Her eggs within the nest repose,

Like relics in an urn.

But still, where general choice is good,

There is a better and a best;

And, among fairest objects, some

Are fairer than the rest;

This, one of those small builders proved

In a green covert, where, from out

The forehead of a pollard oak,

The leafy antlers sprout;

For she had planned the mossy lodge,

Mistrusting her evasive skill,

Had to a primrose looked for aid

Her wishes to fulfill.

High on the trunk's projecting brow,

And fixed an infant's span above

The budding flowers, peeped forth the nest,

The prettiest of the grove!

The treasure proudly did I show

To some whose minds without disdain

Can turn to little things; but once

Looked up for it in vain:

'Tis gone—a ruthless spoiler's prey,

Who heeds not beauty, love, or song,

'Tis gone (so seemed it)! and we grieved

Indignant at the wrong.

Just three days after, passing by,

In clearer light the moss-built cell

I saw, espied its shaded mouth;

And felt that all was well.

The primrose for a veil had spread

The largest of her upright leaves;

And thus for purposes benign,

A simple flower deceives.

Concealed from friends who might disturb

Thy quiet with no ill intent,

Secure from evil eyes and hands

On barbarous plunder bent.

Rest, mother bird! and when thy young

Take flight, and thou art free to roam,

When withered is the guardian flower,

And empty thy late home,

Think how ye prospered, thou and thine,

Amid the unviolated grove,

Housed near the growing primrose tuft

In foresight, or in love.