The Poetry Corner

Bird Or Beast?

By Christina Georgina Rossetti

Did any bird come flying After Adam and Eve, When the door was shut against them And they sat down to grieve? I think not Eve's peacock Splendid to see, And I think not Adam's eagle; But a dove may be. Did any beast come pushing Through the thorny hedge Into the thorny thistly world, Out from Eden's edge? I think not a lion, Though his strength is such; But an innocent loving lamb May have done as much. If the dove preached from her bough and the lamb from his sod, The lamb and dove Were preachers sent from God.