THE BLUE JAY.
No brigadier throughout the year So civic as the jay.
A neighbor and a warrior too, With shrill felicity Pursuing winds that censure us A February day, The brother of the universe Was never blown away.
The snow and he are intimate;
I 've often seen them play When heaven looked upon us all With such severity, I felt apology were due To an insulted sky, Whose pompous frown was nutriment To their temerity.
The pillow of this daring head Is pungent evergreens;His larder -- terse and militant-- Unknown, refreshing things;
His character a tonic, His future a dispute;Unfair an immortality That leaves this neighbor out.