A gentle question-and-answer rhyme about how a robin copes with a hard winter, wrapped in the cosy repeated refrain of 'poor thing'. Its steady call-and-answer shape makes it easy for a small child to join in on the last line.
From Mother Goose / Nursery Rhymes (traditional). See the whole collection.
The north wind doth blow,
And we shall have snow,
And what will poor robin do then,
Poor thing?
He'll sit in a barn,
And keep himself warm,
And hide his head under his wing,
Poor thing!
About this rhyme
A weather rhyme built as a question and answer: what will the robin do when the snow comes? The reply is comforting, not sad. He tucks into a barn, keeps warm, hides his head under his wing.
Ask the question and let a child answer before you give the reply.
Public domain. Text from The Real Mother Goose (Blanche Fisher Wright, 1916), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition