Description HERB-ROBERT (Geranium robertianum)
Robin redbreast lies a-bleeding,
Man, he killed him all for nought
While Herb-Robert was a-seeding,
Killed him, all for winter sport.
Robin redbreast?s blood a-clotting
On the ground where Robert lies,
Robin redbreast?s flesh a-rotting
Feeds the soil, then feeds the flies,
Feeds the seed where Robert?s sleeping
Through the hour when Wrens are kings;
Robin?s rosy blood is seeping
Up the shoots when comes the spring.
Robert lies on ground a-bleeding,
Blood-pinked flower and ruddy shoot,
Man, he dug him up a-weeding,
Exposed to air his withered root.
Man, he cannot bear the thought
Of any beast that chews the cud,
Such a curse has Robin wrought
That all their milk has turned to blood.
Man no more shall Robin kill
His blood upon the ground to sow,
No more wish Herb-Robert ill
But grant he is a good-fellow.
Source material. Herb-Robert (Geranium robertianum) and the Robin redbreast share a long-standing folkloric association with the mischievous and sometimes vengeful sprite, Robin Goodfellow, also known as Puck. Both the bird and the plant have been revered as sacred, and folk belief dictated that the killer of a Robin would never be able to have a cow milked without the milk turning to blood. To uproot a Herb-Robert may bring a similar inconvenience, or even occasion a death in the family. See Katherine Kear, Flower Wisdom: the definitive guidebook to the myth, magic and mystery of flowers, London, 2000, pp. 155?156.
Poem by Giles Watson (2003)
