The Cyber Hymnal ‎#11839

11839. My Bird

1 Ere last year’s moon had left the sky,
A birdling sought my Indian nest,
And folded, O, so lovingly!
Her tiny wings upon my breast.

2 From morn till evening’s purple tinge,
In winsome helplessness she lies,
Two rose-leaves, with a silken fringe,
Shut softly on her starry eyes.

3 There’s not in Ind a lovelier bird—
Broad earth owns not a happier nest—
O God! Thou hast a fountain stirred,
Whose waters nevermore shall rest!

4 This beautiful, mysterious thing,
This seeming visitant from Heaven
This bird, with the immortal wing,
To me—to me, Thy hand has given.

5 The pulse first caught its tiny stroke,
The blood, its crimson hue from mine—
This life, which I have dared invoke,
Henceforth is parallel with Thine.

6 A silent awe is in my room,
I tremble with delicious fear;
The future, with its light and gloom,
Time and eternity, is here.

7 Doubts—hopes, in eager tumult, rise—
Hear, O my God! one earnest prayer!
Room for my bird in paradise,
And give her angel plumage there.

Text Information

• First Line: Ere last year’s moon had left the sky
• Title: My Bird
• Author: Emily C. Judson (1848)
• Meter: LM
• Language: English
• Source: Olio of Domestic Verses, 1852
• Copyright: Public Domain
• Notes: January 1848. She wrote these verses after the birth of her daughter, Emily Frances, at Maulmain, Burma (now Mawlamyine, Myanmar), December 24, 1847; Alternate tune: ADIEU, anonymous in "The Spiritual Harp," 1868

Tune Information

• Name: WOODWORTH
• Composer: William Batchelder Bradbury (1849)
• Meter: LM
• Key: D Major
• Copyright: Public Domain