Come sit with me in the green-wood bower,
While I sing you a song of love;--
'Tis the song of the birds
In the deep, wild woods,
'Tis the song of the sweet ring-dove.
The laddie-bird says, "I have come to woo;"
And the lassie-bird, "Ah! coo, coo, coo, coo." [{349}]
The laddie-bird says, "With a hope to win,"--
And the lassie-bird, "Coo, coo, that is no sin."
The laddie-bird says, "Together we'll dwell,"
And the lassie-bird says, "In the Linden dell."
The laddie-bird says, "And build our nest,"
And the lassie-bird says, "In the tree to the West."
The laddie-bird says, "And raise our brood,"
And the lassie-bird says, "In the sweet solitude."
The laddie-bird says, "Till they're fit to fly,"
And the lassie-bird, "Yes, to the blue, blue sky."
The laddie-bird says, "Let us hie away;"--
And the lassie-bird, "Yes, and begin to-day."
The laddie-bird says, "I will take this moss,"--
And the lassie-bird says, "And I, this floss."
The laddie-bird says, "And we'll love so true;"
And the lassie-bird, "Ah, yes, coo, coo, coo."
'Tis the old-new song that the birds have sung,
Aye, the birds of every race,
Since the world was planned,
And came forth from the hand
Of the Maker, aglow with grace.
'Tis the song they will sing till time is o'er,--
'Tis the stream that from Paradise gushed;
And the music that flows
When the love-light glows,
Will never, no, never be hushed.
[Footnote: "The great watchful I is over US through TIME and ETERNITY.]