Poems (Storrie)/Bellbirds
Bellbirds.
You remember how we heard them In those quiet woodland dells, Tiny grey-green songsters ringing In the air their elfin bells.
Bellbirds! bellbirds! magic cadence, Thin and sweet beyond compare Like the footfall of a fairy Tinkling down a silver stair,
Or a string of rounded sea-pearls Swinging on a slender thread, Interlacing, softly jangling In the tree-tops overhead.
Or a tiny crystal runnel Dropping down from stone to stone, With a liquid splash of music Into fairy bubbles blown.
Bellbirds! bellbirds! through the weaving Of that sweet tautology Runs a linking note of beauty Tuned to some high symphony,
Far beyond your narrow vision, Far beyond my larger view, Yet the key-note has been given As an instinct unto you.
And for you, O! happy bellbirds, Life itself is harmony, All your will, and all your duty Is just happily to be,
Just to be—a simple charter With the freedom of the sky, Powers to wishes finely suited Pinions, and desire to fly.
Served by morning's airy lackeys, Catered for by flower and tree, Little despots of the woodland, Sceptred by a melody!