ALOOF from his tribe <br />On the elm-tree's top, <br />A jackdaw perched <br />A hand-reach up. <br /> <br />Silent he sat <br />On the branch, nor stirred, <br />And I saw m him <br />A changeling bird. <br /> <br />Grass was worn <br />Round pots and a pan, <br />A flea-bitten horse, <br />And a tilted van, <br /> <br />Where tinker's or gypsy's <br />Brats at play <br />Made vagrant's game of <br />Some citizen's way. <br /> <br />I watched the daw <br />On the branch, beguiled: <br />I saw a vagrant <br />From the wild. <br /> <br />The entail broken <br />What had he? <br />The humour of one <br />Out of his degree. <br /> <br />The franchise of one <br />Without kith or kind, <br />And only the pauper's <br />Single mind! <br /> <br />The daws on the elms <br />Kept tribal speech, <br />And he perched there, <br />Within a hand's reach- <br /> <br />He flew; his flight <br />Neither high nor wide <br />Was a vagabond's <br />To a seedman's stride. <br /> <br />A dog on the ground <br />Was rubbing for fleas; <br />Rags were there <br />He fluttered to these: <br /> <br />Held a bright rag up <br />Like a banner won, <br />And went and hid it <br />Behind a stone!<br /><br />Padraic Colum<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/jackdaw/
