Robin, American 



He can always stoop to pick up a worm. 



With a twist of his head, and a strut and a hop, 



To his Robin-wife in the peach tree top, 



Chirping her heart out, he calls: ''My dear, 



You don't earn your Uving! Come here! Come here! 



Ha! ha! ha! Life is lovely and sweet; 



But what would it be if we'd nothing to eat?" 



Robin, sir Robin, gay, red-vested knight, 

 Now you have come to us, summer's in sight. 

 You never dream of the wonders you bring, — 

 Visions that follow the flash of your wing; 

 How all the beautiful By-and-by 

 Around you and after you seems to fly ! 

 Sing on, or eat on, as pleases your mind ! 

 Well have you earned every morsel you find. 

 ''Aye! Ha! ha! ha!" whistles Robin, "My dear, 

 Let us all take our own choice of good cheer!" 



Lucy Larcom. 



The Secret 



We have a secret, just we three, 

 The robin and I and the sweet cherry-tree, 

 The bird told the tree, and the tree told me, 

 And nobody knows it but just we three. 



But of course the robin knows it best, 

 Because he built it — I shan't tell the rest; 

 And laid the four little — somethings in it — 

 I am afraid I shall tell it every minute. 



123 



