I

Sing, bird, sing,
Fill the dawn with glee;
All the blessings of the Spring
Light on thee!

Choose, oh, choose,
Choose a Valentine,
In the sunbeams and the dews
Only thine!

Call, call, call;
On some twig she swings;
Apple-blossoms somewhere fall
Down her wings.

II

Strow, wind, strow,
Strow the drifted blooms;
Blithest hearts may beat below
Brownest plumes.

Dip, birds, dip
Where the ferns lean over,
And their crinkled edges drip,
Haunt and hover.

Trill your mirth
High to heaven above;
Trill the tune of all the earth,
— Love, love, love!

III

Green, green, green,
Doth the shadow rest,
Where the scented curtains screen
Dainty nest.

Peep, oh, peep!
Waiting for a feather,
Cozy birdlings fast asleep
Dream together,

Dream, dream, dream
Of a brooding breast,
On folded wings in shade and gleam
Lightly pressed.

IV

Folded wings,
Folded wings must fly.
Not a bird in thicket sings;
Chill winds sigh.

Blow, wind, blow,
From the norlands stern.
Fill the ruined nest with snow;
Blight the fern.

Summer, pass
To thy sepulchre.
Ye whose days are as the grass,
Weep for her.