To A Bird [poem by Louisa Lawson]

[Editor: This poem by Louisa Lawson was published in “The Lonely Crossing” and Other Poems (1905).]

To A Bird.

Bright little warbler of the air,
The world to thee, I ween, is fair;
And free thy life from shade of care
So gaily dost thou sing.

While from thy happy throat is sent
That flood of song in ravishment,
Thou shamest me without intent —
Sad mourner that I be.

To one who knows not grief nor care
I doubt me not this world is fair,
And “pretty” “pretty” everywhere
As thou dost iterate.

But birdie dear, didst thou but see
The world as it appears to me,
Then “pretty” “pretty” might not be
The burden of thy song.

But oh! could I like thee arise
And wing my way toward the skies,
Not here, ’mid human miseries,
One moment would I dwell.

But once released from bonds of clay
I’d upward soar till thy sweet lay
Did in the distance melt away
Amidst an awful space.

I’d pause not till, through shining breach,
I’d catch, in songs that seraphs teach,
Notes only angel voices reach —
Where my loved one is gone.

Ah, birdie! were it thine to know
The grief that makes my sad tears flow
Thou couldst not sweetly warble so,
Thy little heart would break.

Source:
Louisa Lawson, “The Lonely Crossing” and Other Poems, Sydney: Dawn Office, [1905], pp. 91-92

Editor’s notes:
There are some minor differences between this version of the poem and the version published in The Dawn (Sydney, NSW) on 15 May 1888. There were several differences in the punctuation used; however, the most significant differences were:

1904: While from thy happy throat are sent,
1905: While from thy happy throat is sent

1904: Those floods of song in ravishment,
1905: That flood of song in ravishment,

The third and fourth stanzas were swapped.

1904: To one who knows not grief or care,
1905: To one who knows not grief nor care

1904: I doubt me not the world is fair,
1905: I doubt me not this world is fair,

1904: Where my loved ones are gone.
1905: Where my loved one is gone.

couldst = (also spelt: could’st) (archaic) could

didst = (archaic) did (second-person singular past tense of “do”); commonly used in conjunction with “thou” (e.g. “Whence didst thou come?”)

dost = (archaic) do

lay = song, tune; ballad (may also refer to ballads or narrative poems, as sung by medieval minstrels or bards)

’mid = an abbreviation of “amid” or “amidst”: of or in the middle of an area, group, position, etc.

seraph = an angel (one of the Seraphim), regarded as a highly-ranked order of angel (the Seraphim are mentioned in the Bible, in Isaiah 6: “I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne . . . Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings”)

shamest = (vernacular) shame

thee = (archaic) you

thine = (archaic) your; yours

thou = (archaic) you

thy = (archaic) your

ween = believe, suppose, think