Shall I do dear Sam a wrong
If I write no little song
Telling how he pleases Grace,
Brings the light to Tompie's face,
Shares their play or runs a race,
Merry all about the place?
No: I'd do the duck no wrong
If I failed to make the song.
He'll not care for verse or rhyme.
But this pleasant summer-time
I have seen my little neighbors,
Happy in their kindly labors
Making Sam and others glad,
So I say, "God bless the lad;
Bless the lassie"; and I know
That the love to Sam they show
Makes their own hearts richer, truer;
Makes the sky seem brighter, bluer;
Makes them to us all a joy
(I mean duck, and girl, and boy).
So I'd surely do a wrong
If I did not say in song
To loved Tompie and Miss Grace
(Merry all about the place)
That their duck's important, quite,
With his new-grown feathers white;
But the more important thing
Is their love; of this I sing!