Bird Song Poem for May Nature Club

Jamie Phillips found a beautiful bird song poem:

Bird Song, by Laura E. Richards
from The Home Book of Verse, ed. Burton Egbert Stevenson, vol 1, 1912

The robin sings of willow-buds,
Of snowflakes on the green;
The bluebird sings of Mayflowers,
The crackling leaves between;
The veery has a thousand tales
To tell to girl and boy;
But the oriole, the oriole,
Sings, "Joy! joy! joy!"

The pewee calls his little mate,
Sweet Phoebe, gone astray,
The warbler sings,
"What fun, what fun,
To tilt upon the spray!"
The cuckoo has no song, but clucks,
Like any wooden toy;
But the oriole, the oriole,
Sings, "Joy! joy! joy!"

The grosbeak sings the rose's birth,
And paints her on his breast;
The sparrow sings of speckled eggs,
Soft brooded in the nest.
The wood-thrush sings of peace, "Sweet peace,
Sweet peace," without alloy;
But the oriole, the oriole,
Sings "Joy! joy! joy!"

The poet Laura E. Richards lived in Massachusetts so she mentions eastern birds. She was born in 1850 and lived to be 92 years old! Her mother Julia Ward Howe wrote the words to The Battle Hymn of the Republic. We listened to all these birds' songs at allaboutbirds.org