BIRD LOVE —

If you were but a rose — dear love —

And I your bird, with dip of wing

To tell a promise of the Spring

And with a golden swift caress

My happy careless love confess,

No pain such gentle vows could bring,

No tears should stay my flight above,

If you were but a rose — dear love.

Bird-love, rose-love, to last the day

Why shall not we whose hearts are light

Put by the coming of the night,

Catch glints of rapture from the sky,

The scents that swing where lilies lie,

And ring them to a garland white

To ease the pain of life away?

Bird-love, rose-love, to last the day!