Classic Poem

O Snow-bird, Snow-bird!
Welcome thy note when maple boughs are bare,
Thy merry twitter, thy emphatic call,
Like silver trumpets pierce the freezing air
What time the crystal flakes begin to fall.
We know thy secret! When the day grows dim,
Far from the homes that thou hast cheered so long,
Thy chirping changes to a twilight hymn.
O Snow-bird, Snow-bird, wherefore hide thy song?

O Snow-bird, Snow-bird!
Is it a song of sorrow none may know,
An aching memory? Nay, too glad the note.
Untouched by knowledge of our human woe,
Clearly the crystal flutings fall and float.
We hear thy tender ecstasy, and cry:
— Lend us thy gladness that can brave the chill;
Under the splendours of the Winter sky,
O Snow-bird, Snow-bird, carol to us still! —