This text comes from A First Series of Hymns and Songs, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.
I wish I were a little bird,
To fly so far and high,
And sail along the golden clouds,
And through the azure sky.
I'd be the first to see the sun
Up from the ocean spring;
And ere it touch'd the glitt'ring spire,
Its ray should gild my wing.
Above the hills I'd watch him still
Far down the crimson west,
And sing to him my evening song
Ere yet I sought my rest.
And many a land I then should see,
As hill and plain I cross'd;
Nor fear, through all the pathless sky,
That I should ere be lost.
Now if I climb our highest hill,
How little can I see!
Oh, had I but a pair of wings,
How happy should I be!
I wish I were a little bird,
To fly so far and high,
To sail along the golden clouds,
And through the azure sky.