I go outside and ring the bell;
It rings with strength my message well:
Get well, get well, get well, get well!
Clarinda, do you hear?

She tilts her head and hears a peep—
A baby sparrow wakes from sleep;
Imagines it a note from me,
But what’s the message, she can’t see.

And so she thinks, “What does he do
Now that he knows I’ve got the flu?”
Imagines me a swinging bell
That rings and rings, “Get well, get well!”

And so I think she thinks of me
While baby sparrow peeps from tree,
And all sweet sounds my love do tell:
Get well, sweetheart, get well, get well!