The Nest Builders

Oh! beautiful, beautiful things!
How they range at will through the sky!
Dear Mary, if I could have wings,
Oh! wouldn’t I, wouldn’t I fly?

I would float far away on the cloud,
All vailed in the silver mist;
And perhaps I should feel so proud,
I shouldn’t come back to be kissed.

But see, sis, the sweet little creatures
Have each a straw in his beak;
A lesson of duty to teach us,
As plainly as birds can speak.

We think they are only playing,
As they roam to and fro in the sky;
But these busy fellows are saying,
“’Tis not all for pleasure we fly.

“We’re building a snug little nest
In the crotch of the old elm-tree
We mean it for one of the best,
And busy enough are we.

“We would not live only for play;
And when for a song we take leisure,
We would show, in our caroling way,
How duty is wedded to pleasure.”