Classic and Contemporary Poetry
BLUE JAY, by JOHN TROTWOOD MOORE Poet's Biography First Line: O the world is all against you, blue jay Last Line: And sees himself to-day. Subject(s): Birds; Hunting; Hunters | ||||||||
O, THE world is all against you, Blue Jay, Blue Jay; O, the world is all against you now, I say, With your tweedle, tweedle, tweedle, And your jay! jay! jay! And your saucy, whistling wheedle Just before you fly away To pounce down on the juciest and the sweetest roasting ear; To steal the ripest Concords in the sunshine purpling near; To run off all the song-birds with your blust'ring, bragging tongue, And break the hearts of mother birds by eating up their young Then to perch up on the highest limb upon the apple tree And call up mourners 'round you with your tweedle, tweedle, twee'! You're a robber, robber, robber, Blue Jay, Blue Jay, And a hypocrite and bully, As all the world doth say. O, the world is all against you, Blue Jay, Blue Jay; O, the world is all against you now, I say, But your tweedle, tweedle, tweedle, And your jay! jay! jay! And your saucy, laughing wheedle Brought again to me, to-day, The time we stole together, in the summer long ago, The cherries and the peaches and the grapes of purple glow. The day we climbed the chestnut for the yellow hammer's nest, And you gave it up, disconsolate, because I robbed the best! And I see the old home once again, the fig trees in the sun, While a boy slips all around them with a single-barrel gun, And he brings it to his shoulder as he sees a bobbing head Bang! and he's a murdererfor old Blue Jay is dead! Was I a robber, robber, In the summer long ago, When I barbecued and ate you With my sportsman's pride aglow? Ah, some grown-up folks are like you, Blue Jay, Blue Jay; Ah, some grown-up folks are like you now, I say For they tweedle, tweedle, tweedle, When they wish to have their way, And they wheedle, wheedle, wheedle. In their tricks of trade to-day, And they pounce upon their fellow-man and steal his very best His eggs of reputation, and his cherrieshappiness, And you'll find their crops distended with the plunder they have won, While their tongues are shooting slander (ah, 'tis worse than any gun), And they thrive and fill and fatten till they go to get their due In another worldOh, Blue Jay, won't they make a barbecue? Then sing away your robber song Of jay! jay! jay! Till some robber mortal comes along And sees himself to-day. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE LAMENT OF QUARRY by LEONIE ADAMS KILLDEER by KENNETH SLADE ALLING THE YOUNG FOWLER THAT MISTOOK HIS GAME by PHILIP AYRES A POEM ABOUT THE HOUNDS AND THE HARES by LISEL MUELLER A HARVEST SONG by JOHN TROTWOOD MOORE A MEMORIAL DAY POEM FOR THE CONFEDERACY by JOHN TROTWOOD MOORE |
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