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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ROBIN REDBREAST'S REWARD, by JAMES RYDER RANDALL Poet's Biography
First Line: The saviour, bowed beneath his cross, climbed up the dreary hill
Last Line: Thousands there!
Variant Title(s): Why The Robin's Breast Was Red;why The Robin's Breast Is Red
Subject(s): Robins
First Line: The saviour, bowed beneath his cross, climbed up the dreary hill
Last Line: Thousands there!
Variant Title(s): Why The Robin's Breast Was Red;why The Robin's Breast Is Red
Subject(s): Robins
THE Saviour, bowed beneath his cross, climbed up the dreary hill,
And from the agonizing wreath ran many a crimson rill;
The cruel Roman thrust him on with unrelenting hand,
Till, staggering slowly mid the crowd, He fell upon the sand.
A little bird that warbled near, that memorable day,
Flitted around and strove to wrench one single thorn away;
The cruel spike impaled his breast, -- and thus, 't is sweetly said,
The Robin has his silver vest incarnadined with red.
Ah, Jesu! Jesu! Son of man! My dolor and my sighs
Reveal the lesson taught by this winged Ishmael of the skies.
I, in the palace of delight or cavern of despair,
Have plucked no thorns from thy dear brow, but planted
thousands there!
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Other Poems of Interest...
THE ROBIN IN JANUARY by HENRY CHARLES BEECHING
OWL AGAINST ROBIN by SIDNEY LANIER
HUMAN, AVIAN, VEGETABLE, BLOOD by KENNETH REXROTH
THE BROWN VEST by BARBARA GUEST
A ROBIN by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE
ROBIN REDBREAST by GEORGE WASHINGTON DOANE
JOHN PELHAM by JAMES RYDER RANDALL