Classic Poem

THE APOLOGUE .

T HE Earth was parch'd with heat, as if the Sun
Again to lend his chariot had been won.
Dry was each well, and buried in the sand —
Prolific streams were shifted into land;
The rivers you could pass on foot with ease,
And bridges then were superfluities.
A shepherd rich, but most in pious words,
Encumber'd with his flocks and panting herds,
Propitiated the hand that gives the shower
To his relief in such a desperate hour.
Instructed by a vision of the night,
He found the mine with transport of delight:
The well, though precious, was not very deep,
And small the vessel that each draught would keep.
" I hope, " said he, " all avarice on the shelf,
You 'll give me the first bucket — for myself;
My wife's to have the next; my children then
Share the succeeding draughts, and they are ten;
The next in justice will be due to those
Who dug the well , though I the valley chose . "
When these were satiated, his cattle next,
With emulated claim, the choice perplex'd;
But those amongst them he supplied the first,
Whom he could spare the least if they should burst:
Thus in gradation of review they past,
And many were to come before the last.
A Parrot, fondled by the Shepherd's love,
Determin'd for a partial spring to rove.
" Alas! I'm no Relation , " said the Bird;
" Nor as a Digger of the well preferr'd,
Nor shall I do more service if I 'm spar'd;
For me, alas! no titles are prepar'd —
No charter'd rights, no merits claim the fee,
And the last bucket is too late for me. "

MORAL .

I am this Parrot: — mine's a foolish thirst;
The Nephews and the Nieces drink the first;
Then Leo's Champions , in the Conclave met,
They dug the well, and are a thirsty set.
" I took you up when Soderino fell: "
" I, " says another, " serv'd your Brothers well;
In Casentino was of Pietro's host,
And, wounded, still maintain'd in arms the post. "
" I lent your Holiness, " another cries,
" A sheltering nook when you were in disguise. "
" You liv'd, " another prompts, " at my expence,
And rifled all my bags of their contents. "
" I gave you arms, " another suitor pleads:
Another and another still succeeds.
If I'm to wait before the well is dry ,
The Parrot is not such a fool as I.