When on a Summer's Morn / W.H. Davies

When on a Summer's Morn

When on a summer's morn I wake,
     And open my two eyes,
Out to the clear, born-singing rills
     My bird-like spirit flies.

To hear the Blackbird, Cuckoo, Thrush,
     Or any bird in song;
And common leaves that hum all day,
     Without a throat or tongue.

And when Time strikes the hour for sleep,
     Back in my room alone,
My heart has many a sweet bird's song —
     And one that's all my own.

~~
W.H. Davies (1871-1940)
from The Bird of Paradise, and other poems, 1914

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada, the United States, and the European Union]

W.H. Davies biography