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Padraic Colum - Jackdaw
Work rating: Low

ALOOF from his tribe
On the elm-tree`s top,
A jackdaw perched
A hand-reach up.

Silent he sat
On the branch, nor stirred,
And I saw m him
A changeling bird.

Grass was worn
Round pots and a pan,
A flea-bitten horse,
And a tilted van,

Where tinker`s or gypsy`s
Brats at play
Made vagrant`s game of
Some citizen`s way.

I watched the daw
On the branch, beguiled:
I saw a vagrant
From the wild.

The entail broken
What had he?
The humour of one
Out of his degree.

The franchise of one
Without kith or kind,
And only the pauper`s
Single mind!

The daws on the elms
Kept tribal speech,
And he perched there,
Within a hand`s reach-

He flew; his flight
Neither high nor wide
Was a vagabond`s
To a seedman`s stride.

A dog on the ground
Was rubbing for fleas;
Rags were there
He fluttered to these:

Held a bright rag up
Like a banner won,
And went and hid it
Behind a stone!
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