Life Begins
A fairy polished buttercups One early Summer morn; A skylark struggled thru his shell He was there being born.
"Oh, dear," he cried, "What shall I do? My house! It falls apart!" All night long the cry had torn His poor, wee skylark heart!
Crack! Crack! the shell kept breaking Despair filled skylark's breast. “Break thru, your house will fall on you!" (Ah, soft and sheltered nest. . .)
The fairy wrung her tiny hands And bowed her golden head; She rocked with grief for skylark And all earth's needless dread.
“Dear me," said she, “How sad 'twould be If mortals knew That all this dew Is fairies' tears For them! poor dears, They do not know Our secrets, so Their hearts still ache— And sometimes break ... We try to tell Them all is well, But they won't heed, Tho long we plead. So all thru the night In pale starlight We sigh and cry 'Oh my! Oh my!' "
And then a crash! The fairy Danced 'round in wildest glee! Poor skylark, spent, bewildered Was dying, so tho't he!
The fairy touched him shyly; "You think you've reached the end— But you are just beginning, My funny little friend!"
"Then why did you not tell me?" He raised his tiny head; "You wouldn't have believed me!" That's what the fairy said.
So often do beginnings Come in on silver wings When we have struggled thru the night And reached the end of things!