 | A merry-go-round of song |  |
102
THE BEST FRIEND
My Daddy is the truest friend
The birds have anywhere;
If swimming on the beamy lake
Or flying in the air.
The birds have anywhere;
If swimming on the beamy lake
Or flying in the air.
He knows their beaks and wings and tails,
Their topknots and their legs,
And how they make with clever bills
The cups to hold the eggs.
Their topknots and their legs,
And how they make with clever bills
The cups to hold the eggs.
And sometimes when he sees a nook
Of safety in the quick
He says that he should build a home
Just there, if he were Dick!
Of safety in the quick
He says that he should build a home
Just there, if he were Dick!
He gently peeps, and sure enough
He very often spies
A mother looking straight at him
With rather worried eyes.
He very often spies
A mother looking straight at him
With rather worried eyes.
Thus every summer Daddy knows
A thousand nests, or more,
Among the lanes, upon the hills,
And all along the shore.
A thousand nests, or more,
Among the lanes, upon the hills,
And all along the shore.
He tells me where the chaffinch hides
Away from all his foes
The lovely cottage that he built
So quickly with his nose!
Away from all his foes
The lovely cottage that he built
So quickly with his nose!
103
He never shoots; he never steals
The babies or the eggs,
And never uses sticky stuff
To worry little legs.
The babies or the eggs,
And never uses sticky stuff
To worry little legs.
He even throws a kiss to birds
Assembled overhead
To gossip for a little while
Before they go to bed;
Assembled overhead
To gossip for a little while
Before they go to bed;
And when they start for Africa,
And other foreign lands,
My Daddy watches from a hill
The flitter-flutter bands.
And other foreign lands,
My Daddy watches from a hill
The flitter-flutter bands.
He hates to lose them, but he knows
The Spring will come again
And toss a thousand thousand dears
To field and wood and lane.
The Spring will come again
And toss a thousand thousand dears
To field and wood and lane.
My Daddy is the closest friend
The birds have anywhere;
If swimming on the beamy lake
Or twittering in the air.
The birds have anywhere;
If swimming on the beamy lake
Or twittering in the air.
| A merry-go-round of song | |