Dear Swallow! you, a friendly comer,
Returning every year,
Build your nest here in the Summer,
In Winter disappear.
For Nile or Memphis far you leave:
But love within my heart
His downy nest doth ever weave,
And never will depart.
One passing is just getting wings,
One hatching, one on egg:
A clamorous cry unceasing springs
From gaping mouths that beg.
The older loves quick zeal display
The younger brood to feed:
These, brought up, in their turn straightway
Another nestful breed.
What remedy therefore have I?
Since every effort proves
I have not power, howe'er I try.
To drive away such loves.
W. P. D.