  If I were a bird I would warble a song, The sweetest and finest that ever was heard, And build me a nest in the old elm tree; Oh, that's what I'd do if I were a bird! If I were a flower I'd hasten to bloom, And make myself beautiful all the day through, With drinking the sunshine, the wind, and the rain; Oh, if I were a flower, that's what I'd do! If I were a brook I would sparkle and dance Among the green fields where sheep and lambs stray, And call, "Little lambkins, come hither and drink;" Oh, if I were a brook, that is what I would say! If I were a star I would shine wide and bright To guide the lone sailor on ocean afar, And travelers, lost in the desert and woods; But I know that for me other tasks have been set, For I am a child and can nothing else be; I must sit at my lessons, and, day after day, Learn to read and to spell, and to add one, two, and three. Yet perhaps if I try I shall sometime find out How the birds sing so sweetly, how the roses grow red, What the merry brook says to the moss-covered stones, And what makes the stars stay so high overhead. |
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