TO MIGUEL DE CERVANTES SAAVEDRA

A BLUEBIRD lives in yonder tree, Likewise a little chickadee, In two woodpeckers’ nests, rent free. There, where the weeping willow weeps, A dainty house-wren sweetly cheeps; From an old oriole’s nest she peeps. I see the English sparrow tilt Upon a limb with sun begilt; Her nest an ancient swallow built. So it was one of your old jests, Eh, Mig. Cervantes, that attests “There are no birds in last year’s nests?” Richard Kendall Munkittrick.