Classic Poem

There was once a merchant, who had a parrot,
A parrot fair to view, confined in a cage;
And when the merchant prepared for a journey,
He resolved to bend his way toward Hindustan.
Every servant and maiden in his generosity
He asked, what present he should bring them home;
And each one named what he severally wished,
And to each one the good master promised his desire.
Then he said to the parrot, " And what gift wishest thou,
That I should bring to thee from Hindustan? "
The parrot replied, " When thou seest the parrots there,
Oh, bid them know of my condition.
Tell them, " A parrot, who longs for your company,
Through Heaven's decree is confined in my cage.
He sends you his salutation, and demands his right,
And seeks from you help and counsel. "
He says, " Is it right that I in my longings
Should pine and die in this prison through separation?
Is it right that I should be here fast in this cage,
While you dance at will on the grass and the trees?
Is this the fidelity of friends,
I here in a prison, and you in a grove?
Oh, remember, I pray you, that bower of ours,
And our morning-draughts in the olden time;
Oh, remember all our ancient friendships,
And all the festive days of our intercourse!" "
The merchant received its message,
The salutation which he was to bear to its fellows;
And when he came to the borders of Hindustan,
He beheld a number of parrots in the desert.
He stayed his horse, and he lifted his voice,
And he repeated his message, and deposited his trust;
And one of those parrots suddenly fluttered,
And fell to the ground, and presently died.
Bitterly did the merchant repent his words;
" I have slain, " he cried, " a living creature.
Perchance this parrot and my little bird were close of kin,
Their bodies perchance were two and their souls one.
Why did I this? why gave I the message?
I have consumed a helpless victim by my foolish words!
My tongue is as flint, and my lips as steel;
And the words that burst from them are sparks of fire.
Strike not together in thy folly the flint and steel,
Whether for the sake of kind words or vain boasting;
The world around is as a cotton-field by night;
In the midst of cotton, how shall the spark do no harm? "

The merchant at length completed his traffic,
And he returned right glad to his home once more.
To every servant he brought a present,
To every maiden he gave a token;
And the parrot said: " Where is my present?
Tell all that thou hast said and seen! "
He answered, " I repeated thy complaints
To that company of parrots, thy old companions,
And one of those birds, when it inhaled the breath of thy sorrow,
Broke its heart, and fluttered, and died. "
And when the parrot heard what its fellow had done,
It too fluttered, and fell down, and died.
When the merchant beheld it thus fall,
Up he sprang, and dashed his cap to the ground.
" Oh, alas! " he cried, " my sweet and pleasant parrot,
Companion of my bosom and sharer of my secrets!
Oh, alas! alas! and again alas!
That so bright a moon is hidden under a cloud! "
After this he threw its body out of the cage;
And lo! the little bird flew to a lofty bough.
The merchant stood amazed at what it had done;
Utterly bewildered he pondered its mystery.
It answered, " Yon parrot taught me by its action:
" Escape," it told me, " from speech and articulate voice,
Since it was thy voice that brought thee into prison;"
And to prove its own words itself did die. "
It then gave the merchant some words of wise counsel.
And at last bade him a long farewell.
" Farewell, my master, thou hast done me a kindness,
Thou hast freed me from the bond of this tyranny.
Farewell, my master, I fly toward home;
Thou shalt one day be free like me! "