A little boy tries to grow a birthday surprise for his sister. He knows she loves sugar, so he secretly plants two lumps in the garden, hoping a whole sugar tree will come up by her birthday. For days he keeps the plan to himself, humming when she asks. Then rain falls, and he wakes crying because he realizes the sugar has dissolved. When he confesses, the speaker’s reaction—“O the darling!”—is full of affection, not disappointment. The poem captures how children think literally and love extravagantly. The mood is tender and gently comic: the gift fails completely, but the sweetness of the intention matters far more than any present. It leaves you smiling at the little brother’s earnest, innocent logic and at the older sibling’s warm protectiveness.
Little Brother's Secret — Summary
When my birthday was coming Little Brother had a secret: He kept it for days and days And just hummed a little tune when I asked him. But one night it rained And I woke up and heard him crying: Then he told me. “I planted two lumps of sugar in your garden Because you love it so frightfully I thought there would be a whole sugar tree for your birthday, And now it will all be melted.” O the darling!