The Bird Of Paradise

Here comes Kate Summers, who, for gold,      Takes any man to bed:     "You knew my friend, Nell Barnes," she said;      "You knew Nell Barnes - she's dead.     "Nell Barnes was bad on all you men,      Unclean, a thief as well;     Yet all my life I have not found      A better friend than Nell.     "So I sat at her side at last,      For hours, till she was dead;     And yet she had no sense at all      Of any word I said.     "For all her cry but came to this -      'Not for the world! Take care:     Don't touch that bird of paradise,      Perched on the bed-post there!'     "I asked her would she like some grapes,      Some damsons ripe and sweet;     A custard made with new-laid eggs,      Or tender fowl to eat.     "I promised I would follow her,      To see her in her grave;     And buy a wreath with borrowed pence,      If nothing I could save.     "Yet still her cry but came to this -      'Not for the world! Take care:     Don't touch that bird of paradise,      Perched on the bed-post there!'"