The Cardinals Are Singing

by Francis Duggan
(Victoria Australia)

The eastern rosella on sunlit wattle tree
As beautiful a wild bird as one might wish to see
But back home in America there's prettier bird than he
The cardinal more beautiful or so t'would seem to me.

Back home in North Dakota all though the months of Spring
In grove and wood and garden the red cardinals sing
How beautiful a memory a pleasant sunlit day
And the cardinals are singing in the joyful month of May.

The cardinals are singing and I am far away
From northern Dakota in the U.S.of A,
The country at it's greenest and the sunshine in the sky
And the cardinals are piping their melodies of joy.

The cardinals are singing back in the old home place
He fought to hide his feelings, the tears flowed down his face
A tear for north Dakota where life for him began
The memories of the homeplace stay with the migrant man.

The eastern rosella on sunlit wattle tree
The fairest of the fairest or so t'would seem to me
Of green, blue, red and yellow so beautiful to see
But the American thought different and he chose to disagree.