---LOVE IS A LITTLE WHITE BIRD---

And it won't help any, it won't get us anywhere
it won't wipe away what has been
nor hold off what is to be
if you hear me saying
---LOVE is a little white bird---
and the flight of it so fast
you can't see it
and you know it's there
only by the faint whirr of its wings
and the hush song coming so low to your ears
you fear it might be silence
and you listen keen and you listen long
and you know it's more than silence
for you get the hush song so lovely
it hurts and cuts into your heart
and what you want is to give more than you can get
and you'd like to write it but it can't be written
and you'd like to sing it but you don't dare try
because the little white bird sings it better than you can
so you listen and while you listen you pray
and one day it's as though a great slow wind
had washed you clean and strong inside and out
and the little white bird's hush song
is telling you nothing can harm you,
the days to come can weave in and weave out
and spin their fabrics and designs for you
and nothing can harm you---
unless you change yourself into a thing of harm
nothing can harm you.

.....................................................................................

I give you the little white bird---
and my thanks for your hearing me---
and my prayers for you,
my deep silent prayers.

--- Carl Sandburg
"Little Word, Little White Bird"