"Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and find rest.
How far away I would flee! In the wilderness I would remain."
(Psalm 55:6-7)
How pleasant the life of a bird must be,
Flitting about in each leafy tree;
In the leafy trees so broad and tall,
Like a green and beautiful palace-hall,
With its airy chambers, light and boon,
That open to sun and stars and moon,
That open unto the bright, blue sky,
And the frolicsome winds as they wander by.
They have left their nest in the forest bough;
Those homes of delight they need not now;
And the young and the old, they wander out,
And traverse the green world round about;
And hark! at the top of this leafy hall.
How one to the other they lovingly call:
"Come up, come up," they seem to say,
"Where the topmost twigs in the breezes sway."
"Come up, come up, for the world is fair,
Where the merry leaves dance in the summer air."
And the birds below give back the civ:
"We come, we come, to the branches high!"
How pleasant the life of a bird must be,
Flitting about in a leafy tree;
And away through the air what joy to go.
And look on the bright green earth below.
"Birds In Summer"
(An excerpt from the poem)
By Mary Howitt
(1799-1888)
English Quaker poetess
and translator
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