A little boy with crumbs of bread <br />Many a hungry sparrow fed. <br />It was a child of little sense, <br />Who this kind bounty did dispense; <br />For suddenly it was withdrawn, <br />And all the birds were left forlorn, <br />In a hard time of frost and snow, <br />Not knowing where for food to go. <br />He would no longer give them bread, <br />Because he had observed (he said) <br />That sometimes to the window came <br />A great black bird, a rook by name, <br />And took away a small bird's share. <br />So foolish Henry did not care <br />What became of the great rook, <br />That from the little sparrows took, <br />Now and then, as 'twere by stealth, <br />A part of their abundant wealth; <br />Nor ever more would feed his sparrows. <br />Thus ignorance a kind heart narrows. <br />I wish I had been there, I would <br />Have told the child, rooks live by food <br />In the same way that sparrows do. <br />I also would have told him too, <br />Birds act by instinct, and ne'er can <br />Attain the rectitude of man. <br />Nay that even, when distress <br />Does on poor human nature press, <br />We need not be too strict in seeing <br />The failings of a fellow being.<br /><br />Charles Lamb<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-rook-and-the-sparrows/
