Page:An argosy of fables.djvu/433

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THE BIRDS OF PASSAGE

THE vintage o'er, unnumber'd troops
 Cleaving the air in buoyant groups,
Of birds of passage, richly fed
Within our orchards, homeward sped.
Accomplish'd now the tedious flight,
They at their capital alight;
Where every eye, with flouting gaze,
The bold adventurers surveys.
Acquaintance, kindred, sire, and son,
Flick'ring and hopping, round them run:
And soon the crowd, from rudely peering,
With envious murmurs fall to sneering:—
⁠"How sleek," they cry, "our travellers grow!
What health and bloom their aspects shew;
With stomachs thus so amply stor'd,
They may a longer fast afford.
Sure, when they took their flight in May,
They were as lank as we today.
This shews what sudden gain must rise
From trips to man's more clement skies."
The leader of the birds of flight
Returns; "So far, my friends, you're right:
Abroad, both grain and fruits abound,
And plenteous refuse there is found:
But to return unhurt, to shun