# Sing-Song: Cluck! Cluck! the Mother Hen - Source: Sing-Song (sing-song.gutenberg.org), Public domain, Christina Rossetti, pictures by Arthur Hughes, 1872, via Project Gutenberg - Reading level: Ages 4 to 6 - Subjects: Poems, Animals, Music - Topics: cluck, mattie, minnie, flint, heartsease, king - Length: 233 words, about 2 min - Original: - Page: - Open in Sprouts: Cluck! cluck! the mother hen Summons her chickens To peck the dainty bits Found in her pickings. ## Minnie and Mattie Minnie and Mattie And May carry posies, Half of sweet violets, Half of primroses. ## Give the sun time enough Give the sun time enough, Glowing and glowing, He’ll rouse the roses And bring them blowing. ## Don’t wait for roses Don’t wait for roses Losing to-day, O Minnie, Mattie, And wise little May. ## Violets and primroses Violets and primroses Blossom to-day For Minnie and Mattie And fat little May. ## Heartsease in my garden bed Heartsease in my garden bed, With sweetwilliam white and red, Honeysuckle on my wall:— Heartsease blossoms in my heart When sweet William comes to call, But it withers when we part, And the honey-trumpets fall. ## If I were a Queen If I were a Queen, What would I do? I’d make you King, And I’d wait on you. ## If I were a King If I were a King, What would I do? I’d make you Queen, For I’d marry you. ## What are heavy? sea-sand and sorrow What are heavy? sea-sand and sorrow: What are brief? to-day and to-morrow: What are frail? Spring blossoms and youth What are deep? the ocean and truth. ## Stroke a flint, and there is nothing to admire Stroke a flint, and there is nothing to admire: Strike a flint, and forthwith flash out sparks of fire. ## Picture credits - Arthur Hughes, Public domain () - Arthur Hughes, Public domain () - Arthur Hughes, Public domain ()