• Author: A. M. Nicol
• Editor:
• Newspaper: The Umpire volume V
• Page Number:
• Date: 12 18 1918
• Tags:
• poetry
• Sing Sing

THE BIRDS. (Composed While Listening to Birds, Singing on the Walls of Sing Sing. New York.) Tune: "Ye Banks and Braes," Repeat Last Two Lines. Ye warbling birds above our walls, How can ye sing such melody? How can ye chant so merrily, And we sigh here for Liberty? For what, for whom, oh do ye sing? Do ye to us a message bring? "We bring to thee," the birds reply, "The music of the earth and sky, Of cozy nest and feathery wife, Fledglings bright, who know no strife, Of laughing flowers and smiling trees, Of sun, and scent, and balmy breeze." "We rise; in praise, to greet the sun, For what the breath of God hath done, We sing, because sing we must, To show our joy, our love, our trust, Of Him who breathed into the air, The signs of His Eternal care." The captive souls bowed low their heads, As if the music bade them pray, "Had we but lived above the earth, And praised our Maker with our breath, And learned the song of gratitude, We'd ne'er been here-o'er crime to brood." —A. M. Nicol.