A brief, wistful little verse about two pigeons that fly off without explanation. Its shrug of an ending, 'I cannot tell, for I do not know,' makes it a small, honest exercise in not having every answer.
From Mother Goose / Nursery Rhymes (traditional). See the whole collection.
I had two pigeons bright and gay,
They flew from me the other day.
What was the reason they did go?
I cannot tell, for I do not know.
About this rhyme
Four lines about a small mystery: two pigeons fly off one day and nobody knows why. There's no drama in the telling, just a shrug, 'I cannot tell, for I do not know.'
It pairs naturally with two fingers held up and flown away, one at a time.
Public domain. Text from The Real Mother Goose (Blanche Fisher Wright, 1916), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition