Never Again Would Birds' Song Be the SameHe would declare and could himself believeThat the birds there in all the garden round From having heard the daylong voice of Eve Had added to their own an oversound, Her tone of meaning but without the words. Admittedly an eloquence so soft Could only have had an influence upon birds When call or laughter carried it aloft. Be that as it may, she was in their song. Moreover her voice upon their voices crossed Had now persisted in the woods so long That probably it never would be lost. Never again would birds' song be the same. And to do that to birds was why she came. Read at the dedication of a tree given in memory of Rebecca by the Dudley Bridgforth family, 15 April 2001 |