A Bird Ballad - Henrik Johan Ibsen

One lovely day in springtime

We paced the avenue; 

As some dark riddle draws one

The place forbidden drew.

The sky was blue above us;

The wind was in the west; 

A bird sat singing in the limes

To young ones in the nest.

I painted poet-pictures

Of bright-hued fantasy; 

Two brown eyes laughed and listened

And sparkled back at me.

A twitter and a titter

O'erhead we heard it plain: 

But we, we bade a sweet good-bye,

And never met again. . . .

And when, alone and lonely,

I pace the avenue, 

They leave me no peace nor quiet,

The little feathered crew.

We did not dream Dame Sparrow

Had spied on us, and soon 

She made a song about us

And put it to a tune.

Now every bird has caught it

That has a beak to sing; 

The leaves are full of lays about

That shining day in spring.

---

Henrik Johan Ibsen (1828 - 1906) Norway

Translated by Fydell Edmund Garrett

Source: Lyrics & poems from Ibsen, Translated by Fydell Edmund Garrett, J.M. Dent & Son, 1912