From the edge of the woods, the white-throated sparrow (which must come all the way from Boston) calls, ‘Oh, Peabody, Peabody, Peabody!’ On an apple bough, the phoebe teeters and wags its tail and says, ‘Phoebe, phoe-bee!’ The song sparrow, who knows how brief and lovely life is, says, ‘Sweet, sweet, sweet interlude; sweet, sweet, sweet interlude.’ If you enter the barn, the swallows swoop down from their nests and scold. ‘Cheeky, cheeky!’ they say.
