Birds can bring more joy to our lives than we realize. This poem is one that points out the benefits of having birds around.
You may look at birds in a totally different way after reading the verses.
Don't kill the birds — the little birds
That sing about your door,
Soon as the joyous spring has come,
And chilling storms are o'er,
The little birds, how sweet they sing!
O, let them joyous live;
And never seek to take the life
Which you can never give.
Don't kill the birds — the little birds
That play among the trees;
'Twould make the earth a cheerless place,
Should we dispense with these.
The little birds, how fond they play!
Do not disturb their sport;
But let them warble forth their songs,
Till winter cuts them short.
Don't kill the birds — the happy birds
That bless the field and grove;
So innocent to look upon,
They claim oar warmest love.
The happy birds — the tuneful birds,
How pleasant 'tis to see;
No spot can be a cheerless place
Where'er their presence be.
Two more poems by Daniel C. Colesworthy about the beauty of nature and the things that surround us each and every day.
The Blues
Poet: Daniel C. Colesworthy
Oh! do not unwisely
Sink down in the mire,
And dream that the mountains
Frown darker and higher;
That the whirlwind is coming
In wrath and in might;
That wild clouds are meeting
For long, endless night.
The shade and the valley,
Why should they be thine,
Where birds never linger,
And suns never shine;
Where the leaf and the blossom,
The stream and the spring,
To the eye and the bosom
No pleasure will bring?
Up! forth to the hillside
Where buttercups bloom,
And dandelions scatter
Their gold and perfume;
"Where blossoms are floating
Like butterflies' wings,
And the sweetest of songsters
Right merrily sings.
Up! forth to the hillside,
And never again
With a shade on thy forehead
Look down and complain.
A stroll in the sunshine
Past vigor renews,
Brings joy to the bosom,
And scatters the blues.
This World
Poet: Daniel C. Colesworthy
'Tis beautiful! 'tis beautiful!
This glorious world of ours;
Life-teeming slopes and waving fields,
And bright, delicious flowers.
We cannot look, but Beauty lives,
And in her splendor reigns;
On shrubs and trees, on seas and lakes,
On mountains and on plains.
This world is beautiful; but oh!
Would it not be more fair,
If Pride and Hate, and Envy dark,
Wan Sorrow and dumb Care,
Were not companions by the way,
At morn, at noon, at even?
Were sin unknown, would not earth be
The vestibule of heaven?
When every thing is beautiful,
Oh! why will man do wrong?
Nor look upon the glorious world
With grateful heart and tongue?
When Gladness springs in every path,
Joy floats on every breeze,
With Pride and Folly fetter-bound,
God's smile he never sees.
Each bird and tree and blushing flower,
Each rill that leaps along,
Seems with a music-voice to pour
An ever-grateful song.
Awake, man! with Nature round
So beautiful and bright,
Lift up thy soul in gratitude,
And share the pure delight.
