Here haply too, at vernal dawn, Let lofty firs, and ashes cool, My lowly banks o'erspread, Let fragrant birks in woodbine drest And, for the little songster's nest, BURNS PART IV. Under the Open Sky. ROBIN'S COME. FROM the elm-tree's topmost bough, Telling one and all that now Merry springtime hastes along; Welcome tidings dost thou bring, Little harbinger of spring: Robin's come. Ring it out o'er hill and plain, Through the garden's lonely bowers, Till the green leaves dance again, Wake the cowslips by the rill, Wake the yellow daffodil : Robin's come. Then, as thou wert wont of yore, In the woodbine leaves among; Singing still in yonder lane, Alice clasps her hands in glee, Robin's come. WILLIAM W. CALDWELL. NESTLINGS. O LITTLE bird! sing sweet among the leaves, Will cleave the sunny air. Oh, sing, bird, sing! (Sing, O my heart! Thy callow nestlings sleep, Sing, heart, sing!) O little bird, sing sweet! Though rain may fall, The wealth, the beauty thine. Oh, sing, bird, sing! (Sing, O my heart! sing on, though rain may pour; Sing on, for unawares the winds will bring A drift of sunshine to thy cottage door, And arch the clouds with rainbows. Sing, heart, sing!) O bird! sing sweet. What though the time be near (Sing, O my heart! What if thy birds have flown? Thou hadst the joy of their awakening, A thousand memories left thee for thine own; Sing thou for task accomplished. Sing, heart, sing!) F. C. A. THE CHIMNEY NEST. A DAINTY, delicate swallow-feather Is all that we now in. the chimney trace Where are you flying now, swallow, swallow? Whose wings to strength in the chimney grew Deep and narrow, and dark and lonely, The sooty place that you nested in ; Over you one blue glimmer only, Say, were there many to make the din? This is certain, that somewhere or other That here, as in many deserted places, Ah! why do we shut our eyes half blindly, Till he who granted them kindly, kindly Gathers them back, that we see and hear, And know, by loss of the same grown dearer, So, little, delicate swallow-feather, Fashioned with care by the Master's hand, MARY B. DODGE. |