I kept two singing birds
In a cage of bone--
Hatched-out on the same day;
But since one flew away,
T’other’s alone.
I spoke him gentle words
And bade him sing.
But he hung down his head
As if discomforted,
And drooped his wing.
My mood was turned to rage;
I stinted his seed,
Opened the cage-door wide--
Starve, or begone! I cried.
He did not heed.
Silent within his cage
I see him mope
Like any turtle-dove.
The dumb bird I called Love,
The flown bird, Hope.