To find, if I can, the road steep and narrow;

Ah, here he comes, flying, a straw in his bill!

I’ll beg him take pulpit; now hear, if you will,

A sermon preached by a sparrow.

“My text”—hear the bird!—“I take

From the street,”—that’s better,—“and make

Application as follows:

Down there where my comrades are basking,

There’s food to be had for the asking,—

Understand me,—no shirking,