SCANDAL

The owl alighted in a yew Beside the portals of my house; The hour was nearly half-past two And, as he ate his juicy mouse, A cuckoo clock made cheerful chime Within and shouted out the time. “O gracious God!” the owl began, And rolled his round eyes at the moon, “What a black piece of work is man— Well might we miss cuckoo in June, How mad, misguided, inhumane To keep a cuckoo on a chain! “But all the feathered folk must know; This infamy I’ll bring to light And tell the horror high and low And scream the crime by day and night. No bird shall sing to him again Who keeps a cuckoo on a chain.” Good neighbour, of your charity Consider that mistaken fowl; Beware you tell not truth awry And, hooting with your brother owl, Into the public ear complain I keep a cuckoo on a chain.