Felicia Hemans in The New Monthly Magazine Volume 7 1823/The Bird's Release at the Grave
The New Monthly Magazine, Volume 7, Page 532
THE BIRD'S RELEASE AT THE GRAVE.
"Lorsqu'elle fut arrivée au lieu de sa sepulture, . . . . . . . . . . .des Indiennes du Bengale et de la côte Malabare, apportèrent des cages pleines d'oiseaux, auxquels elles donnèrent la liberté sur son corps." Paul et Virginie.
Go forth, for she is gone!
With the golden light of her wavy hair,
She is gone to the fields of the viewless air,
She hath left her dwelling lone!
Her voice hath pass'd away!
It hath pass'd away, like a summer-breeze,
When it leaves the hills for the for blue seas,
Where we may not trace its way.
Go forth, and like her be free!
With thy radiant wing and thy joyous eye,
Thou hast all the range of the sunny sky,
And what is our grief to thee?
Is it aught e'en to her we mourn?
Doth she look on the tears by her kindred shed?
Doth she rest with the flowers o'er her gentle head,
Or float on the light winds borne?
We know not, but she is gone!
Her step from the dance, and her voice from the song,
And the smile of her eye from the festal throng!
—She hath left her dwelling lone.
When the waves at sunset shine.
We may hear thy voice, amidst thousands more,
In the citron-woods of our glowing shore,
But we shall not know 'tis thine!
Ev'n so with the loved one flown:
Her smile in the starlight may wander by,
Her breath may be near in the wind's low sigh,
Around us—but all unknown.
Go forth—we have loosed thy chain!
We may deck thy cage with the richest flowers
Which the bright day rears in our eastern bowers,
But thou wilt not be lured again.
Ev'n thus may the summer pour
All fragrant things on the land's green breast,
And the glorious Earth like a bride be drest,
But it wins her back no more!F. H.