Valentines to My Mother, 1885

   All the Robin Redbreasts
     Have lived the winter through,
Jenny Wrens have pecked their fill
And found a work to do;
   Families of Sparrows
     Have weathered wind and storm
With Rabbit on the stony hill
     And Hare upon her form.

   You and I, my Mother,
     Have lived the winter through,
And still we play our daily parts
And still find work to do :
   And still the cornfields flourish,
     The olive and the vine,
And still you reign my Queen of Hearts
     And I'm your Valentine.