The Mistle Thrush

Lowly bird, beautifully taught,
You enrich and astound us,
We wonder long at your song,
Your artistry and your voice.
In you I see, I believe,
The clear and excellent work of God.
Blessed and glorious is he,
Who shows his virtue in the lowest kind.
How many bright wonders (clear note of loveliness)
Does the world contain? How many parts, how many mirrors of his finest work
Offer themselves a hundred times to our gaze?
For the book of his art is a speaking light
Of lines abundantly full,
And every day one chapter after another
Comes among us to teach us of him.
The smallest part of his most lovely hand
Finely taught our teacher,
A winged and lively bird,
Who gave an impromptu sermon,
Who taught us much
Of the Lord who is Master,
Of right measure, his power and wealth,
And wisdom, great and true.
Let us come to receive his learning,
Unmerited, from this learned bird:
Let the Lord be praised (by his own right),
Holy and pure, and no idol.
If our Lord is great, and great his praise
From just his one small part of earth,
Then what of the image of his greatness
Which comes from the whole of his fine work?
And through the image of the ascending steps
Of his gracious work, which he has made,
(Below and above the firmament,
Marvellously beyond number),
What of the greatness and pure loveliness
Of God himself?