I think you've really got something here, Bernd. At the moment, it reads like something Schubert would set to music. The first couple of lines made me think of Goethe's "Wandrers Nachtlied." Nothing wrong with that, of course. It's a pretty big compliment. Do you have a fat lady and a piano handy? If not, it could work just as well with a simple acoustic guitar accompaniment.

Personally, I don't like this line: "an early bird sings his song about a life of bliss." It sounds forced just to achieve a rhyme. I doubt if birds really sing about a life of bliss. They do, however, sing to attract a mate, so I made a suggestion along those lines. I thought it might add a little poignancy too, since the singer is missing his mate.

silently the forest lake lies in the morning mist
an early bird sings his invitation to a tryst
I close my eyes to see you smile
Oh, my dear, it's been a while
the sun comes up and stirs my lazy, dreamy mind
but my thoughts keep drifting back to what I left behind
I close my eyes to feel your touch
it's not real but means so much
to me

time passes, it doesn't linger, neither does it rush
there's a time for everything, not too little, not too much
there was a time for you and me
that my heart still feels and sees

time passes, it doesn't linger, neither does it rush
there's a time for everything, not too little, not too much
there was a time for you and me
that my heart still feels and sees

For the time being I'll take the "s" from "sees" 😉
And I'll think about the line you suggest (or maybe some other alternative).

Thanks a lot!

Bernd, I don't think you can omit the "s" from sees any more than you could from feels, if you want it to make sense. If you really feel the need to lose the "s," you could try this: "that my heart can still feel and see."

I'm looking forward to hearing this.

while the  forest lake lies silent in the morning mist
an early bird sings his song to his mate of bliss
I close my eyes to see you smile
knowin it's been quite a while

Other than Gavin you seem to 'accept' the 'bliss part'. I will leave it as is although I know that Gavin is right. I have watched animals enjoy their lives to the fullest (among others an ermine bouncing around on the first warm spring day, like horses do when they are let out into the meadow after being confined in a stable for some time). But birds do stop singing once their mating and breeding period is over. I like the idea, nonetheless.

As for "knowing it's been quite a while" - no, I don't like it. In several lyrics or songs of mine I (try to) leave it open if the partner has left or has died ("good morning, love" is an example). Gavin's "tryst" would spoil that ambiguity, as would you "quite".

Thank you both!

The tryst line doesn't affect the ambiguity. The bird is inviting a potential mate to a tryst, not the singer. I'm not suggesting you have to use it, just clearing that up 🙂

@gavin

personally if I heard this song playin it would cause me to change the channel plus it is not what people actually say in real life. I was told by a great songwriter to write lyrics that have  no timeline have stories that move along and use convential speech

@allforthelord

And that is one kind of song, Allfor. Actually, it's the kind I usually try to write. But there's room for various different kinds of songs. This seems to me to be a particular kind of folks song with quite a long tradition going back to Schubert, Goethe, Burns and all the anonymous folk voices they were imitating. It's for a different audience from country. I have no doubt it's a much smaller audience, but, on the other hand, there are far fewer people writing for it. 

Anyway, what the heck! I like it 🙂

Regarding the bird and pondering its intent, I'll cite the Jewish proverb, "We don't see the world as it is. We see the world as we are."
The man perceives the bird as singing blissfully. He's not expressing an ornithological observation, but a personal sense of what the birdsong might mean, interpreted through his own psyche.