Answer to a child’s question

Do you ask what the birds say? The sparrow, the dove,

The linnet and thrush say, “I love and I love!”

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.

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 for ever sings he-

“I love my Love, and my Love loves me!”

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), first published in the Morning Post, 1802