| William Wilfred Campbell, comp. The Oxford Book of Canadian Verse. 1913. | | | | The Grey Linnet | | By James McCarroll (1814–1892) |
| | | THERE ’S a little grey friar in yonder green bush, | |
| Clothed in sackcloth—a little grey friar, | |
| Like a druid of old in his temple—but hush! | |
| He ’s at vespers; you must not go nigher. | |
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| Yet, the rogue! can those strains be addressed to the skies, | 5 |
| And around us so wantonly float, | |
| Till the glowing refrain like a shining thread flies | |
| From the silvery reel of his throat? | |
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| When he roves, though he stains not his path through the air | |
| With the splendour of tropical wings, | 10 |
| All the lustre denied to his russet plumes there | |
| Flashes forth through his lay when he sings. | |
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| For the little grey friar is so wondrous wise, | |
| Though in such a plain garb he appears, | |
| That on finding he can’t reach your soul through your eyes | 15 |
| He steals in through the gates of your ears. | |
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| But—the cheat!—’tis not heaven he ’s warbling about. | |
| Other passions, less holy, betide. | |
| For behold! there ’s a little grey nun peeping out | |
| From a bunch of green leaves at his side. | 20 | | | |
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