A Nightingale that all day long <br />Had cheered the village with his song, <br />Nor yet at eve his note suspended, <br />Nor yet when eventide was ended, <br />Began to feel, as well he might, <br />The keen demands of appetite; <br />When looking eagerly around, <br />He spied, far off upon the ground, <br />A something shining in the dark, <br />And knew the glow-worm by his spark; <br />So stooping down from hawthorn top, <br />He thought to put him in his crop; <br />The worm, aware of his intent, <br />Harangued him thus right eloquent: <br /> <br />'Did you admire my lamp,' quoth he, <br />'As much as I your minstrelsy, <br />You would abhor to do me wrong, <br />As much as I to spoil your song, <br />For 'twas the self-same power divine <br />Taught you to sing, and me to shine, <br />That you with music, I with light, <br />Might beautify and cheer the night.' <br />The songster heard his short oration, <br />And warbling out his approbation, <br />Released him, as my story tells, <br />And found a supper somewhere else. <br /> <br />Hence jarring sectaries may learn, <br />Their real interest to discern: <br />That brother should not war with brother, <br />And worry and devour each other, <br />But sing and shine by sweet consent, <br />Till life's poor transient night is spent, <br />Respecting in each other's case <br />The gifts of nature and of grace. <br /> <br />Those Christians best deserve the name, <br />Who studiously make peace their aim; <br />Peace, both the duty and the prize <br />Of him that creeps and him that flies.<br /><br />William Cowper<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-nightingale-and-glow-worm/
