<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="" class="head">To a Choir of Birds</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">GREEN are the trees, and green the summer</p><p class="line">grass.</p><p class="line">Beneath the sun, the tinest leaf hangs still:</p><p class="line">The flowers in languor droop, and tired men pass</p><p class="line">All somnolent, while death whines loud and shrill.</p><p class="line">O fine, full-throated choir invisible.</p><p class="line">Whose sudden burst of rapture fills the ear!</p><p class="line">Are ye insensible to mortal fear.</p><p class="line">That such a stream of melody ye spill,</p><p class="line">While murk of battle drifts on Auber's hill,</p><p class="line">And mankind dreams of slaughter? What wild glee</p><p class="line">Has filled your throbbing throats with sound,</p><p class="line">until</p><p class="line">Its strains are poured from every bush and tree,</p><p class="line">And sad hearts swell with hope, and fierce eyes</p><p class="line">fill?</p><p class="line">The world is stark with blood and hate—but ye—</p><p class="line">Sing on! Sing on! in careless ecstasy.</p></div></body></html> · Great War