Poems (Hoffman)/Bird Songs

by Martha Lavinia Hoffman

BIRD SONGS

The birds are happy, singing all day through
 Their little psalms of praise,
And just because the sky is clear and blue,
The grasses green, the trees in leafage new;
Awake my heart, and be thou happy too,
 These sunny days.

Sing, as the birds sing, just for love
 Of God and song;
Make for His temple every leafy grove
That rears its frescoed canopy above.
Thy strength, thy freedom and thy gladness prove
 O'er gloom and wrong.

One little songster taught to me his lay
 It was so sweet,
These were the warbled words he seemed to say:
"Earth is so joyous that I long to stay,
Heaven is so glorious, I would fly away."
 Still doth his song repeat.

Dreading to live, yet fearing more to die,
 Take thy distress
To where the birds through field and forest fly,
Trilling their thankfulness to earth and sky,
And without gold, or lands or honor, buy
 Such songs as this.

The birds are singing, not for gold or fame
 Their songs may bring.
O, what care they for words of slight or blame,
For breathless listeners, or honored name!
To empty aisles they carol just the same
 Because they love to sing.

The birds are happy, 'till their joy o'erflows
 In minstrelsy;
No wealth for them in glittering treasure glows.
Awake, my heart, and know what nature knows
The ecstasy of life that is and was
 And evermore shall be.