Mother robin in her red-orange vest,

Hatched the eggs in a dead dove’s nest.

She did not know what she ought to do,

When the three white doves began to coo.

Little Robin was doing her best;

She put red paint on every dove’s chest,

And tried with skill, while the chicks were young,

To teach the doves her native tongue.

She tried every hour, day after day,

To make her babies do things her way.

She worked in vain, by the time she was through,

She flipped her cork and began to coo.

Let this tale be a lesson to you;

We should help others, we know that’s true,

But you can’t help some, no matter what we do,

Because a Robin’s going to chirp, and a dove’s going coo.