The Pewee

"The Pewee" by O. Henry is a charming short story that explores themes of love, deception, and the complexities of human relationships. The narrative follows a young man who falls for a beautiful woman, only to discover her true nature and intentions. With O. Henry's signature wit and clever twist, the story highlights the unpredictability of romance and the ironic turns that life can take, leaving readers to reflect on the nature of attraction and the sometimes humorous, sometimes poignant revelations that accompany it.

• Short story

								
    In the hush of the drowsy afternoon.
    When the very mind on the breast of June
    Lies settled, and hot white tracery
    Of the shattered sunlight flitters free
    Through the unstinted leaves to the pied cool sward,
    On a dead tree branch sings the saddest bard
    Of the birds that be.
    'Tis the lone pewee;
    Its note is a sob, and its song is pitched
    In a single key like a soul bewitched
    To a mournful minstrelsy.

    "Pewee, Pewee," doth it ever cry;
    A sad, sweet, minor threnody
    That threads the aisles of the dim hot grove
    Like a tale of a wrong or a vanished love,
    And the fancy comes that the wee dun bird
    Perchance was a maid, and her heart was stirred
    By some lover's rhyme
    In a golden time,
    And broke when the world turned false and old;
    And her dreams grew dark and her faith grew cold,
    In some fairy far-off clime.
    And her soul crept into the pewee's breast;
    And forever she cries with a strange unrest
    For something lost, in the afternoon;
    For something missed from the lavish June;
    For the heart, that died in the long ago;
    For the livelong pain that pierceth so;
    Thus the pewee cries,
    While the evening lies
    Steeped in the languorous still sunshine,
    Rapt, to the leaf and the bough and the vine,
    Of some hopeless paradise.
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