Three Little Nest Birds Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCDDEEFFGGHIJJKK FFLLMMNNON PPQQRRFFLL SSTTUUOOVVWVWXXYY ZA2A2NNTT| We meant to be very kind | A |
| But if ever we find | A |
| Another soft grey green moss coated feather lined nest in a hedge | B |
| We have taken a pledge | B |
| Susan Jemmy and I with remorseful tears at this very minute | C |
| That if there are eggs or little birds in it | D |
| Robin or wren thrush chaffinch or linnet | D |
| We'll leave them there | E |
| To their mother's care | E |
| There were three of us Kate and Susan and Jem | F |
| And three of them | F |
| I don't know their names for they couldn't speak | G |
| Except with a little imperative squeak | G |
| Exactly like Poll | H |
| Susan's squeaking doll | I |
| But squeaking dolls will lie on the shelves | J |
| For years and never squeak of themselves | J |
| The reason we like little birds so much better than toys | K |
| Is because they are really alive and know how to make a noise | K |
| - | |
| There were three of us and three of them | F |
| Kate that is I and Susan and Jem | F |
| Our mother was busy making a pie | L |
| And theirs we think was up in the sky | L |
| But for all Susan Jemmy or I can tell | M |
| She may have been getting their dinner as well | M |
| They were left to themselves and so were we | N |
| In a nest in the hedge by the willow tree | N |
| And when we caught sight of three red little fluff tufted hazel eyed | O |
| open mouthed pink throated heads we all shouted for glee | N |
| - | |
| The way we really did wrong was this | P |
| We took them for Mother to kiss | P |
| And she told us to put them back | Q |
| Whilst out on the weeping willow their mother was crying Alack | Q |
| We really heard | R |
| Both what Mother told us to do and the voice of the mother bird | R |
| But we three that is Susan and I and Jem | F |
| Thought we knew better than either of them | F |
| And in spite of our mother's command and the poor bird's cry | L |
| We determined to bring up her three little nestlings ourselves on the sly | L |
| - | |
| We each took one | S |
| It did seem such excellent fun | S |
| Susan fed hers on milk and bread | T |
| Jem got wriggling worms for his instead | T |
| I gave mine meat | U |
| For you know I thought Poor darling pet why shouldn't it have roast beef to eat | U |
| But oh dear oh dear oh dear how we cried | O |
| When in spite of milk and bread and worms and roast beef the little birds died | O |
| It's a terrible thing to have heart ache | V |
| I thought mine would break | V |
| As I heard the mother bird's moan | W |
| And looked at the grey green moss coated feather lined nest she had taken such pains to make | V |
| And her three little children dead and as cold as stone | W |
| Mother said and it's sadly true | X |
| There are some wrong things one can never undo | X |
| And nothing that we could do or say | Y |
| Would bring life back to the birds that day | Y |
| - | |
| The bitterest tears that we could weep | Z |
| Wouldn't wake them out of their stiff cold sleep But then | A2 |
| We Susan and Jem and I mean never to be so selfish and wilful and cruel again | A2 |
| And we three have buried those other three | N |
| In a soft green moss covered flower lined grave at the foot of the willow tree | N |
| And all the leaves which its branches shed | T |
| We think are tears because they are dead | T |
Juliana Horatia Ewing
(1)
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About Three Little Nest Birds
Three Little Nest Birds is a poem by Juliana Horatia Ewing. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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