The Happy Birds
ALL about the gable tall swift the swallows flit,
Wheel and call and dart and, fluttering, chatter sweet;
All along the sloping, sunny eaves they perch and sit,
Bright as lapis-lazuli, glittering in the heat.
O spirits of the summer, so dainty, delicate,
Creatures born of sunshine and cheer and all delight,
Pray you, but delay a moment, yet a little wait,
Ere for southern lands again you spread your wings in flight!
Yet the August sun is hot, yet the days are long,
Though the grass is over-ripe and the aster blows;
Still the silence echoes to the sparrow’s quiet song,
Still, though late, in thorny thickets lingers the wild rose.
Tarry yet a little, for after you have flown
Lonely all the housetops and still the air will grow;
Where your cheerful voices rang autumn winds will moan;
Presently we shall be dull with winter’s weight of snow.
Oh! that we could follow you and cling to Summer’s hand,
Ye happy, happy birds, flying lightly through the sky!
Reach with you the rapture of some far, sunny land,
Leave to Winter’s bitterness our glad and gay good-by!
