The shop-girl in my fingers laid
The Yellow Duckling, Mother paid
A silver coin to set him free
And so he came to live with me.
I kissed his baby feathers sweet,
His callow bill and parchment feet;
And so his love for me began—
My Yellow Duckling from Japan.
And he forgot his native nest,
Forgot the way his plumy breast
Parted the waters as they ran
Amid strange weeds in far Japan.
And he forgot the yellow child
Whose narrow eye-lids on him smiled:—
I kissed him, and he settled down
To live with me in London town.