Classic Poem

To Miss Palmer's Monkey

Meek Animal! tho' thou by cruel hand from skies
More genial far than these by force wert torn,
Where on the spicy bough, from eve to morn,
'Midst kindred shapes, and birds of various dyes,
Thou free as air didst sit; — Know, happy prize,
That to the Muse's seat thou now art born,
Where Elegance and Truth the Mind adorn,
And unaffected Art with Nature vies:

By gentle hand each hour thou now art fed,
That well repays thy loss of liberty,
And near the lovely Maid is now thy bed,
With whom the Virtues , and the Graces dwell:
Would I were thus, like thee, requited well,
For my heart's thraldom, and captivity!English