Explore "The Sparrow's Fall" by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Too frail to soar -- a feeble thing -- / It fell to earth with fluttering wing; / But God, who watches over all, / Beheld that little sparrow's fall.
'Twas not a bird with plumage gay, / Filling the air with its morning lay; / 'Twas not an eagle bold and strong, / Borne on the tempest's wing along.
Only a brown and weesome thing, / With drooping head and listless wing; / It could not drift beyond His sight / Who marshals the splendid stars of night.
Its dying chirp fell on His ears, / Who tunes the music of the spheres, / Who hears the hungry lion's call, / And spreads a table for us all.
Its mission of song at last is done, / No more will it greet the rising sun; / That tiny bird has found a rest / More calm than its mother's downy breast.
Oh, restless heart, learn thou to trust / In God, so tender, strong and just; / In whose love and mercy everywhere / His humblest children have a share.
If in love He numbers ev'ry hair, / Whether the strands be dark or fair, / Shall we not learn to calmly rest, / Like children, on our Father's breast?