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Line from what poem?

Posted by Bruce Kahl on May 15, 2001

In Reply to: Line from what poem? posted by Sarah Hutchings on May 15, 2001

: I am searching for a poem which starts;
: "A handsome young cricket accustomed to sing
: Through th warm sunny months of gay summer and spring"

: I had to learn this in primary school and would love to remember the rest.

I also had to learn this poem--"The Ant and the Cricket". I was never really good at memorizing poems but I had this younger cousin who, at family gatherings, would dazzle us. I can still hear her on this one. Here ya go:

A silly young cricket accustomed to sing
Through the warm sunny months of gay summer and spring,
Began to complain, when he found that at home
His cupborad was empty,
and winter was come.

Not a crumb to be found
On the snow-covered ground;
Not a flower could he see,
Not a leaf
on the tree;

"Oh, what will become,"
said the cricket, "of me?"

At last, by starvation
and famine made bold,
All dripping with wet,
and all trembling with cold,
Away he set off to a miserly ant,
To see if, to keep him alive,
he would grant him shelter
from rain,
And a mouthful
of grain.

He wished only
to borrow,
And repay it to-morrow:
If not, he must die of starvation
and sorrow.

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