Quote#Nature
Of all the birds that sing and fly Between the housetops and the sky,…
Quote bySamuel Hoffenstein · 1890–1947
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Poems in Praise of Practically Nothing (1928), Songs about Life, no. 53 (p. 110).
English (original)
Of all the birds that sing and fly Between the housetops and the sky, The muddy sparrow, mean and small, I like, by far, the best of all.
— Samuel Hoffenstein
More from Samuel Hoffenstein
When trouble drives me into rhyme, Which is two-thirds of all the time, What peace a thought like this can give— Great is the age in which we live!
When you’re away, I’m restless, lonely, Wretched, bored, dejected; only Here’s the rub, my darling dear, I feel the same when you are here.
The dead they sleep a long, long sleep; The dead they rest, and their rest is deep; The dead have peace, but the living weep.
Four of us together dwell— Two from Heaven and two from Hell; Four of us under the selfsame sky— Love and Death and a Dream and I.
Oh, how various is the scene Allowed to Man for his demesne!
You buy some flowers for your table; You tend them tenderly as you’re able; You fetch them water from hither and thither— What thanks do you get for it all? They wither.