One For Sorrow (nursery rhyme)

"One for sorrow

Two for joy

Three for a girl

Four for a boy

Five for silver

Six for gold

Seven for a secret, never to be told

Eight for a wish

Nine for a kiss

Ten for a bird you must not miss"  

The above is a traditional English nursery rhyme about magpies.  There are many variations of lyrics, but these I have quoted are the most modern version.

One of the earliest versions, published in about 1840, is:

"One for sorrow,

Two for luck; (or mirth)

Three for a wedding,

Four for death; (or birth)

Five for silver,

Six for gold;

Seven for a secret,

Not to be told;

Eight for heaven,

Nine for [hell]

And ten for the d[evi]l's own sell!"

  

According to superstition, the number of magpies you see determines what kind of luck you will have.   

In the United States, where magpies aren't as common as they are in Britain, crows, bluebirds and jackdaws are sometimes associated with the rhyme.  

In the 1989 film "Signs of Life," the rhyme was used for counting crows.

The band Counting Crows took their name from the "Signs of Life" version, and they use the rhyme in their song "A Murder of One."

We have a family of five crows that spend hours in our backyard every day of the year; I wonder if it is a portent, or if they just like the birdseed I provide?