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by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 - 1834)
Translation

Birdspeak
Language: English  after the English 
Do you ask what the birds say? The Sparrow, the Dove,
The Linnet and Thrush say "I love and I love!"
But the Lark is so brimful of gladness and love,
The green fields below him, the blue sky above,
That he sings, and he sings; and forever sings he --
"I love my Love, and my Love loves me!"
In the winter they're silent -- the wind is so strong;
What it says, I don't know, but it sings a loud song.
But green leaves, and blossoms, and sunny warm weather,
And singing and loving -- all come back together.
The Sparrow, the Dove,
The Linnet and Thrush say "I love and I love!"
Did you ask what the birds say?

The text shown is a variant of another text. [ View differences ]
It is based on

  • a text in English by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 - 1834), "Answer to a child's question"
    • Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Stephen Wilkinson (b. 1919), "Birdspeak" [voice and piano], from Eternal Summer, no. 13 [ sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this page: Mike Pearson

This text was added to the website: 2015-02-06
Line count: 13
Word count: 119

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