BIRDS IN SUMMER. Mary Howitt. How pleasant the life of a bird must be, And the frolicsome winds, as they wander by! They have left their nests in the forest bough, Those homes of delight they need not now; And the young and the old they wander out, And traverse their 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 play!" "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 cry, "We come, we come, to the branches high! How pleasant the lives of the birds must be, Living in love, in a leafy tree, "" And away through the air, what joy to go, And to look on the green, bright earth below! How pleasant the life of a bird must be, And then wheeling away to its cliff-built home! And pierce, like a shaft, the boundless space! To pass through the bowers of the silver cloud, Into How pleasant the life of a bird must be, To go, when a joyful fancy calls, Then wheeling about, with its mates at play, What a joy it must be, like a living breeze, THE WHITE BIRD OF THE TROPICS. St. Pierre. BIRD of the Tropic! thou, who lov'st to stray, Where thy long pinions sweep the sultry Line, Or mark'st the bounds which torrid beams confine By thy averted course, that shuns the ray Oft on yon cliff thy folded plumes recline, And drop those snowy feathers Indians twine, To crown the warrior's brow with honours gay. O'er trackless oceans what impels thy wing? Does no soft instinct in thy soul prevail? No sweet affection to thy bosom cling, And bid thee oft thy absent nest bewail? Yet thou again to that dear spot canst spring, But I my long-lost home no more shall hail! TO THE MORNING LARK. Mrs. Opie. FEATHER'D Lyric! warbling high, Sweetly gaining on the sky, While the bloom of orient light Guides thee in thy tuneful flight, May the day-spring from on high, Seen by Faith's religious eye, Cheer me with its vital ray, Promise of eternal day. H |