The Grasshopper and the Cricket

Listen to:

The Grasshopper and the Cricket (1:04)

by Leigh Hunt

performed by Bob Gonzalez, rhapsode

Green little vaulter in the sunny grass,

  Catching your heart up at the feel of June,

  Sole voice that ’s heard amidst the lazy noon,

  When even the bees lag at the summoning brass;

And you, warm little housekeeper, who class
     
  With those who think the candles come too soon,

  Loving the fire, and with your tricksome tune

  Nick the glad silent moments as they pass;

O sweet and tiny cousins, that belong

  One to the fields, the other to the hearth,
     
  Both have your sunshine; both, though small, are strong

At your clear hearts; and both seem given to earth

  To sing in thoughtful ears this natural song,—

  In doors and out, summer and winter, Mirth.


December, 1816.


Written in the Vale of Health, Hampstead, and in companionship with that of Keats, on the same subject.