[Verse 1]
Pretty bird
You didn't use a pretty bird
To feed a man you led with a word
To a brook in the desert
[Verse 2]
I'm looking up
I'm searching the sky and I'm looking up
For the wings of an eagle or holy dove
Would be enough
[Pre-Chorus]
Why do you never choose easy roads
It's never fast, it's always slow
Why is it narrower the further I go
It's my choice to lean my head on hope
[Chorus]
It's your wings I'm under
And you'll be my shelter
Hidden and covered
From the lightning and the thunder
And I've seen and I've heard
My days are numbered
I'm not forsaken
When I'm fed by ravens
[Verse 3]
Pretty bird
You don't need a song from a pretty bird
You want what I have and it's unrehearsed
Even at my worst you listen
[Verse 4]
So I'm looking up
Oh, I'm searching the sky and looking up
Whatever you bring whenever it comes
It will be enough, It's always enough
[Chorus]
Oh, it's your wings I'm under
And you'll be my shelter
I'm hidden and covered
From the lightning and the thunder
I've seen and I've heard
My days are numbered
I'm not forsaken
If I'm fed by ravens
[Bridge]
I won't despise the things you provide
The way that you lead me to the other side
I don't regret one second of it
You wound to heal it's how you bless
I won't despise the things you provide
The way that you lead me to the other side
I don't regret one second of it
You wound to heal it's how you bless
I won't despise the things you provide
The way that you lead me to the other side
I don't regret one second of it
Your love heals, it's how you bless
How you bless, how you bless
[Chorus]
It's your wings I'm under
And you'll be my shelter
I'm hidden and I'm covered
From the lightning and the thunder
I've seen and I've heard
My days are numbered
I'm not forsaken
If I'm fed by ravens
Pretty Bird
Song Meaning
Rita Springer opens "Pretty Bird" naming a specific miracle before naming her own doubt — "you didn't use a pretty bird to feed a man you led with a word, to a brook in the desert" — recalling Elijah's ravens directly, an unglamorous bird for an unglamorous need.
"I'm looking up, I'm searching the sky and I'm looking up, for the wings of an eagle or holy dove would be enough" admits a wish for something more impressive than what history actually shows was sent. "Why do you never choose easy roads, it's never fast, it's always slow" names frustration honestly, and "it's my choice to lean my head on hope" turns that frustration into a decision rather than a resolved feeling.
"It's your wings I'm under, and you'll be my shelter, hidden and covered from the lightning and the thunder" answers the earlier wish for a grander bird with a different kind of covering altogether. "I'm not forsaken, when I'm fed by ravens" repeats the title's own image as reassurance rather than complaint by the second verse, and "I won't despise the things you provide" repeated three times in the bridge lets the song end where it started, choosing gratitude for an unglamorous provision over the impressive one it once wished for.