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!

2

They have left their nests on 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 in love they call!

"Come up! come up!" they seem to say,
"Where the topmost twigs in the breezes sway.

3

"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!

4

How pleasant the life of a bird must be,
Skimming about on the breezy sea,
Cresting the billows like silvery foam,
Then wheeling away to its cliff-built home!
What joy it must be to sail, upborne

By a strong, free wing, through the rosy morn!

To meet the young sun face to face,

And pierce like a shaft the boundless space;

5

To pass through the bowers of the silver cloud,
To sing in the thunder halls aloud;

To spread out the wings for a wild, free flight
With the upper-cloud winds-oh, what delight!
Oh, what would I give, like a bird, to go
Right on through the arch of the sun-lit bow,
And see how the water-drops are kissed
Into green, and yellow, and amethyst!

6

How pleasant the life of a bird must be,
Wherever it listeth there to flee;

To go, when a joyful fancy calls,
Dashing adown 'mong the waterfalls;

Then to wheel about with their mates at play,
Above, and below, and among the spray,
Hither and thither, with screams as wild
As the laughing mirth of a rosy child!

HELPS TO STUDY

Notes and Questions

Words and Phrases for Study

air'-y-open to a free current of air.

frŏl'-ic-some-playful; sportive.

rē’-gion (jŭn)—country; district; a portion of space.

SING ON, BLITHE BIRD

WILLIAM MOTHERWELL

William Motherwell (1797-1835), a Scotch poet, was born in Glasgow. He lived and died in that city.

1

I'VE plucked the berry from the bush, the brown nut from the tree,

But heart of happy little bird ne'er broken was by me.

I saw them in their curious nests, close couching, slyly peer With their wild eyes, like glittering beads, to note if harm were

near;

I passed them by, and blessed them all; I felt that it was good To leave unmoved the creatures small whose home was in the

wood.

2

And here, even now, above my head, a lusty rogue doth sing,
He pecks his swelling breast and neck, and trims his little wing.
He will not fly; he knows full well, while chirping on that spray,
I would not harm him for a world, or interrupt his lay.

HELPS TO STUDY

Notes and Questions

Where do you think this poet lived in his boyhood?

What tells you?

Where did he see the nests?

To what does he compare the eyes of the birds?

What do you think would break

the heart of a little bird? Read the lines which tell why the bird is not afraid of the poet.

How do you think the birds know their friends?

What happiness does the poet get
because of his kindness to the
birds?

Read the lines that another poet
who loved birds has written
about his love for them:
"He prayeth well, who loveth
well

Both man and bird and beast.
He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all."

Celia Thaxter (1835-1894), an American poet, was a native of Portsmouth, N. H. Her father was a light-house keeper on one of the rocky isles known as the "Isles of Shoals," off the coast of New Hampshire. She wrote many beautiful poems about wild flowers and birds. She is called the "Poet of the Shoals.''

1

THE alder by the river

Shakes out her powdery curls;

The willow buds in silver,

For little boys and girls.

2

The little birds fly over

And O, how sweet they sing!

To tell the happy children

That once again 'tis spring.