Birdsong Poem by John Thorkild Ellison

Perhaps you wonder that I no longer speak
About your beauty and the love I feel?
I will keep silence, I wouldn't have the cheek
To soil your loveliness with men's cheap words -
I would prefer the language of the birds,
Its hidden meaning might offend you less
Than the platitudes about your loveliness
That adorn the verses I am guilty of,
Perhaps in melodies there would be a way
To say the things I simply cannot say:
I have no skill in analysing love.