REQUIESCAT FOR A ROBIN

I looked; the robin looked at me,
And flicked his tail, bobbed from his tree;
So joyful seemed his winter song,
There was no sense that aught was wrong.

But later yet when I walked by
And sought that redbreast to draw nigh,
There was no sound or sign to say
Why on the snow his body lay,

Except a crimson pool that welled
Beneath his corpse as I beheld
His lifeblood drain and eye grow dim;
So soon I knelt, thanked God for him.

Note: Requiescat -- a wish or prayer for the repose of the dead