Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, INGRATITUDE, by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

INGRATITUDE, by             Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Four bluish eggs all in the moss!
Last Line: Never a heart could break!
Subject(s): Ingratitude; Ungratefulness


FOUR bluish eggs all in the moss!
Soft-lined home on the cherry-bough!
Life is trouble, and love is loss--
There's only one robin now.

O robin up in the cherry-tree,
Singing your soul away,
Great is the grief befallen me,
And how can you be so gay?

Long ago when you cried in the nest,
The last of the sickly brood,
Scarcely a pinfeather warming your breast,
Who was it brought you food?

Who said, "Music, come fill his throat,
Or ever the May be fled"?
Who was it loved the low sweet note
And the bosom's sea-shell red?

Who said, "Cherries, grow ripe and big,
Black and ripe for this bird of mine"?
How little bright-bosom bends the twig,
Sipping the black-heart's wine!

Now that my days and nights are woe,
Now that I weep for love's dear sake --
There you go singing away as though
Never a heart could break!





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