A sparrow, when sparrows like parrots could speak, <br />Addressed an old hen who could talk like a jay: <br />Said he, 'It's unjust that we sparrows must seek <br />Our food, when your family's fed every day. <br /> <br />'Were you like the peacock, that elegant bird, <br />The sight of whose plumage her master may please, <br />I then should not wonder that you are preferred <br />To the yard, where in affluence you live at your ease. <br /> <br />'I affect no great style, am not costly in feathers, <br />A good honest brown I find most to my liking, <br />It always looks neat, and is fit for all weathers, <br />But I think your grey mixture is not very striking. <br /> <br />'We know that the bird from the isles of Canary <br />Is fed, foreign airs to sing in a fine cage; <br />But your note from a cackle so seldom does vary, <br />The fancy of man it cannot much engage. <br /> <br />'My chirp to a song sure approaches much nearer, <br />Nay the nightingale tells me I sing not amiss; <br />If voice were in question I ought to be dearer; <br />But the owl he assures me there's nothing in this. <br /> <br />'Nor is it your proneness to domestication, <br />For he dwells in man's barn, and I build in man's thatch, <br />As we say to each other-but, to our vexation, <br />O'er your safety alone man keeps diligent watch.' <br /> <br />'Have you e'er learned to read?' said the hen to the sparrow, <br />'No, madam,' he answered, 'I can't say I have.' <br />'Then that is the reason your sight is so narrow,' <br />The old hen replied, with a look very grave. <br /> <br />'Mrs. Glasse in a Treatise-I wish you could read- <br />Our importance has shown, and has proved to us why <br />Man shields us and feeds us: of us he has need <br />Even before we are born, even after we die.'<br /><br />Charles Lamb<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-sparrow-and-the-hen/
