BIRDS.
Birds! Birds! ye are beautiful things,
With your earth-treading feet and your cloud-cleaving wings!
Where shall man wander, and where shall he dwell,
Beautiful birds, that ye come not as well?
Ye have nests on the mountain all rugged and stark,
Ye have nests in the forest all tangled and dark;
Ye build and ye brood 'neath the cottagers' eaves,
And ye sleep on the sod 'mid the bonnie green leaves
Ye hide in the heather, ye lurk in the brake,
Ye dive in the sweet flags that shadow the lake;
With your earth-treading feet and your cloud-cleaving wings!
Where shall man wander, and where shall he dwell,
Beautiful birds, that ye come not as well?
Ye have nests on the mountain all rugged and stark,
Ye have nests in the forest all tangled and dark;
Ye build and ye brood 'neath the cottagers' eaves,
And ye sleep on the sod 'mid the bonnie green leaves
Ye hide in the heather, ye lurk in the brake,
Ye dive in the sweet flags that shadow the lake;
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