Felicia Hemans in The New Monthly Magazine Volume 10 1824/The Messenger Bird
The New Monthly Magazine, Volume 10, Page 538
THE MESSENGER-BIRD.
[Some of the Brazilians pay great veneration to a certain bird that sings mournfully in the night-time. They say it is a messenger which their deceased friends and relations have sent, and that it brings them news from the other world.
Picart's Ceremonies and Religious Customs.]
Thou art come from the Spirits' land, thou bird!
Thou art come from the Spirits' land!
Through the dark pine-grove let thy voice be heard,
And tell of the shadowy band!
We know that the bowers are green and fair
In the light of that distant shore,
And we know that the friends we have lost are there,—
They are there—and they weep no more.
And we know they have quench'd their fever's thirst
From the Fountain of Youth ere now,
For there must the stream in its gladness burst,
Which none may find below!
And we know that they will not be lured to earth
From the land of deathless flowers.
By the feast, or dance, or song of mirth,
Though their hearts were once with ours.
Though they sat with us by the night-fire's blaze,
And bent with us the bow.
And heard the tales of our Fathers' days,
Which are told to others now!
Then tell us, thou bird of the solemn strain!
Can those who have loved forget?
We call, and they answer not again—
Do they love—do they love us yet?
Doth the warrior think of his brother there,
And the father, of his child?
And the chief, of those that were wont to share
His wanderings o'er the wild?
We call them far through the silent night,
And they speak not from cave or hill;—
We know, thou bird! that their land is bright,
But say, do they love there still?F. H.