Aviary

All through the branches, all through the boughs,

All through the clouds high above;

The blackbird searched and the blackbird sailed,

The blackbird called for his love.

"Oh where is the nightingale so rare,

She swore that she was my own;

Just last night I heard her sing so fair,

Oh tell me where has she flown?"

Up from the green the mockingbird sings

"You've no one but yourself to blame."

And the whippoorwill cries "Just let her go by,

You're only a player in her game."

"She always loves best who feathers her next,"

The black crow calls from the field.

And the lone sparrow sings as he beats his wings

"Oh how do you think that it feels?"

The lark in the meadow, the swan on the lake,

The owl, the killdeer and the wren;

Each in time spoke his mind

And the branches rocked in the wind.

"Your eyes are tired, your voice is a rasp,

Your wings are tattered and torn.

Why do you fly through the golden sky

Seeking only a heart full of scorn?"

All through the branches, all through the boughs,

You can bear all the songbirds sing.

Their feathers so bright and their wings so light,

As they fly in twos and threes.

The hop on the ground, they dance in the air,

They take what the evening brings;

But each one will ask as the world goes black,

"Is it only the blackbird's wings?"