MINSTRELSY OF SPRING
to hear the song of the English Blackbird, click the picture

So fades dull winter.  Wakened hope renews,
For darkness that consumed our day is past
And sunlight smiles on all that now ensues.
Though few birds wing and skies be overcast,
Spring shall bring the blackbird's song.

From youth till age we mark each season's turn;
How welcome then, through passing of the years,
When woodland in renewal we discern;
And when on boughs fresh budding there appears,
Spring shall bring the blackbird's song.

Our world becomes a miracle of green
Where God is in His glory, shining through
Late moments loved and days we've not yet seen.
Nor shall there be restraint of Nature's due;
Spring shall bring the blackbird's song.

When Time is spent and life can be no more,
May music be our recompense in death
For what we've cherished in those times before;
Then savoured in the soul from dying breath,
Spring shall bring the blackbird's song.

Bernard M Jackson