| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Georgian Verse. 1909. | | | | Beau’s Reply | | By William Cowper (1731–1800) |
| | | SIR, when I flew to seize the bird | |
| In spite of your command, | |
| A louder voice than yours I heard, | |
| And harder to withstand. | |
| |
| You cried ‘Forbear!’—but in my breast | 5 |
| A mightier cried ‘Proceed!’— | |
| ’Twas Nature, sir, whose strong behest | |
| Impelled me to the deed. | |
| |
| Yet much as Nature I respect, | |
| I ventured once to break | 10 |
| (As you perhaps may recollect) | |
| Her precept for your sake; | |
| |
| And when your linnet on a day, | |
| Passing his prison door, | |
| Had fluttered all his strength away, | 15 |
| And panting pressed the floor, | |
| |
| Well knowing him a sacred thing, | |
| Not destined to my tooth, | |
| I only kissed his ruffled wing, | |
| And licked the feathers smooth. | 20 |
| |
| Let my obedience then excuse | |
| My disobedience now, | |
| Nor some reproof yourself refuse | |
| From your aggrieved Bow-wow; | |
| |
| If killing birds be such a crime | 25 |
| (Which I can hardly see), | |
| What think you, sir, of killing Time | |
| With verse addressed to me? | | | | |
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