Fisherman’s Luck by Caroline M. Griswold

This morning I went fishing all alone,
And sat for ‘most a day upon a stone;
I dropped my line with care into the brook,
And watched the little fish swim round my hook.
I said, “Kind fish, do bite without a worm;
I have one, but I hate to feel him squirm.
If you will only please me in this way,
I’ll give my wiggly worm to you for pay.”
But there, I never had a single bite;
It seems to me they did not treat me right.
If I were just a fishie in a brook,
To please a little boy, I’d bite his hook.
— Caroline M. Griswold.