JOHN’S SISTER.
What! no elder sister?
I wouldn’t be you!
Who buttons your jacket?
Who ties up your shoe?
Who gives you a boost
When you climb a tree?
Who bathes your bumps,
As kind as can be?
Who guided your oar
The first time you paddled?
Who blows your bird’s eggs,
E’en when they’re addled?
Who sets your moths,
Your butterflies, too?
Who mops up the floor
When you spill the glue?
Who takes out your splinters,
All in a minute?
Who tells you stories,
And sings like a linnet?
No sister! I pity you,
Truly I do.
And oh! for a whole farm
I wouldn’t be you.