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Vita irrequieta.

Restless life

A man walks alongside a river. There is a swan in the river and some buildings on the other side. There is a large bird flying in the sky.
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S’il est vray ce qu’on dict,[1] on trouve dans l’Indie
Des arondes sans pieds ne cessant, de voller
Sans prendre jamais terre: & dict-on que dans l’air
Ell’ jettent de leurs corps les petits pleins de vie.
Ceux qui vont recerchants par la philosophie
Des choses les raisons, ont bien de quoy parler.
Et l’homme plain de soing qui ne cesse d’aller
Aux oyseaux que j’ay dict, soymesme il s’approprie.

Notes:

1.  This seems to refer to the bird of paradise, referred to in the sixteenth century as Apus indica (“the footless bird of India”), but also alludes to Pliny’s descriptions of swifts (Natural History, 10.55.114), which, as the martlet, is used in heraldry as a footless bird.

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