One warm summer's day the bluebirds came
And lighted on our tree,
But at first the wand'rers were not so tame
But they were afraid of me.
They seemed to come from the distant south,
Just over the Walden wood,
And they skimmed it along with open mouth
Close by where the bellows stood.
Warbling they swept round the distant cliff,
And they warbled it over the lea,
And over the blacksmith's shop in a jiff
Did they come warbling to me.
They came and sat on the box's top
Without looking into the hole,
And only from this side to that did they hop,
As 't were a common well-pole.
Methinks I had never seen them before,
Nor indeed had they seen me,
Till I chanced to stand by our back door,
And they came to the poplar tree.
In course of time they built their nest
And reared a happy brood,
And every morn they piped their best
As they flew away to the wood.
Thus wore the summer hours away
