A bonny bird I found today <br />Mired in a melt of tar; <br />Its silky breast was silver-grey, <br />Its wings were cinnabar. <br />So still it lay right in the way <br />Of every passing car. <br /> <br />Yet as I gently sought to pry <br />It loose, it glared at me; <br />You would have thought its foe was I, <br />It pecked so viciously; <br />So fiercely fought, as soft I sought <br />From death to set it free. <br /> <br />Its pinions pitifully frail <br />I wrested from the muck; <br />I feared the feathers of its tail <br />Would never come unstuck. <br />. . . The jewel-bright it flashed in flight - <br />Oh how I wished it luck! <br /> <br />With happiness my heart was light, <br />To see how fair it flew; <br />To do my good deed I delight, <br />As grey-haired scouts should do; <br />Yet oh my bright reward's to write <br />This simple rhyme for you!<br /><br />Robert William Service<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/old-boy-scout/
