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!
Public domain. Text from The Real Mother Goose (Blanche Fisher Wright, 1916), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition