A First Series of Hymns and Songs/Descriptive Songs/The Humming-Bird
41. The Humming-Bird.
The humming-bird, the humming-bird,
So fairy-like and bright,
It lives among the sunny flow'rs,
A creature of delight;
In radiant islands of the East,
Where fragrant spices grow,
A thousand thousand humming-birds
Go glancing to and fro.
Like living fires they flit about
Scarce larger than a bee,
Among the broad palmetto leaves,
And through the fan palm-tree.
And in the wild and verdant woods
Where lofty moras tower;
Where hangs from branching tree to tree
The stately passion-flow'r.
Thou happy happy humming-bird,
No storms around thee low'r;
Thou never saw'st a leafless tree,
Nor land without a flow'r.
A reign of summer joyfulness
To thee for life is given;
Thy food the honey from the flow'r,
Thy drink the dew from heaven.