--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If I shouldn't be alive When the Robins…" description: "\"If I shouldn't be alive When the Robins come, Give the one in Red Cravat, A Memorial crumb.\" — Emily Dickinson" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec6/emily-dickinson-310_alive_if-i-shouldn-t-be-alive-when-the-robins_472336.jpg" --- # If I shouldn't be alive When the Robins come, Give the one… ![“If I shouldn't be alive When the Robins come, Give the one in Red Cravat, A Memorial crumb.” quote by Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec6/emily-dickinson-310_alive_if-i-shouldn-t-be-alive-when-the-robins_472336.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec6/emily-dickinson-310_alive_if-i-shouldn-t-be-alive-when-the-robins_472336.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec6/emily-dickinson-310_alive_if-i-shouldn-t-be-alive-when-the-robins_472336.jpg) > “If I shouldn't be alive When the Robins come, Give the one in Red Cravat, A Memorial crumb.” [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker wishes to be remembered through a small token when spring arrives. **In simple terms:** A desire for remembrance after death. Key Takeaway Leave a meaningful token for loved ones. Themes mortality memory nature legacy Mood somber contemplative Type poetic reflective When to use this quote - funeral rites - springtime - personal memorials - writing - gardening Key Concepts symbolism ephemerality Questions to Reflect On - How do you want to be remembered? - What small acts create lasting memory? A Different Perspective Physical symbols may fade; memories persist. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Alive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alive/) [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Memorial](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memorial/) [Red](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/red/) [Robins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/robins/) ## Related quotes > [“XXXVII. If I shouldn't be alive When the robins come, Give the one in red cravat A memorial crumb. 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Whose crumbs the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/fame-is-a-fickle-food-upon-a-shifting-plate-whose-table-once-a-guest/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul, And sings the tune without the words, And never stops at all, And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/hope-is-the-thing-with-feathers-that-perches-in-the-soul-and-sings-2/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [All our words are but crumbs that fall down from the feast of the mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khalil-gibran/all-our-words-are-but-crumbs-that-fall-down-from-the-feast-of-the-mind/) [Khalil Gibran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/khalil-gibran/) > [The crumbs from Nature Valley bars would probably end world hunger.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-crumbs-from-nature-valley-bars-would-probably-end-world-hunger/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Watching everyone root through their psyche, it just delights me. 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Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/courtney-c-stevens/) > [I've always been a very restless person. I work hard, spend too much time looking after my son, I dance like a mad thing,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/i-ve-always-been-a-very-restless-person-i-work-hard-spend-too-much/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) ## More by Emily Dickinson > [A Light exists in Spring Not present on the Year At any other period - When March is scarcely here A Color stands abroad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/a-light-exists-in-spring-not-present-on-the-year-at-any-other-period/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [I could not prove the Years had feet-/Yet confident they run.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/i-could-not-prove-the-years-had-feet-yet-confident-they-run/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [How softly summer shuts, without the creaking of a door.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/how-softly-summer-shuts-without-the-creaking-of-a-door/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [“Could you tell me how to grow--or is it unconveyed--like Melody--or Witchcraft?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/could-you-tell-me-how-to-grow-or-is-it-unconveyed-like-melody-or/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [It might be lonelier Without the Loneliness - I’m so accustomed to my Fate - Perhaps the Other - Peace - Would interrupt the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/it-might-be-lonelier-without-the-loneliness-i-m-so-accustomed-to-my/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [“Inebriate of Air — am I — And Debauchee of Dew — Reeling — thro endless summer days — From Inns of Molten Blue —”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/inebriate-of-air-am-i-and-debauchee-of-dew-reeling-thro-endless/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [Luck is not chance, it's toil; fortune's expensive smile is earned.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/luck-is-not-chance-it-s-toil-fortune-s-expensive-smile-is-earned/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [The abdication of Belief Makes the Behavior small- Better an ignis fatuus Than no illume at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/the-abdication-of-belief-makes-the-behavior-small-better-an-ignis/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [Longing is like a seed that wrestles in the ground](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/longing-is-like-a-seed-that-wrestles-in-the-ground/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [“He ate and drank the precious words, His spirit grew robust; He knew no more that he was poor, Nor that his frame was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/he-ate-and-drank-the-precious-words-his-spirit-grew-robust-he-knew-no/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [I SEE thee better in the dark, I do not need a light. The love of thee a prism be Excelling violet. I see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/i-see-thee-better-in-the-dark-i-do-not-need-a-light-the-love-of-thee/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [One step at a time is all it takes to get you there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/one-step-at-a-time-is-all-it-takes-to-get-you-there/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [“Whose fingers string the stalactite- Who counts the Wampum of the night”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/whose-fingers-string-the-stalactite-who-counts-the-wampum-of-the-night/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [My life closed twice before its close](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/my-life-closed-twice-before-its-close/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [Until you have loved, you cannot become yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/until-you-have-loved-you-cannot-become-yourself/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) [Explore all 692 Emily Dickinson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) ## More Alive quotes > [I understand that it's the music that keeps me alive... 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It is a perpetual wound.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maureen-duffy/the-pain-of-love-is-the-pain-of-being-alive-it-is-a-perpetual-wound/) [Maureen Duffy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maureen-duffy/) > [I have tried to resign myself, and to console myself; and that, I hope, I may have done imperfectly; but what I cannot firmly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/i-have-tried-to-resign-myself-and-to-console-myself-and-that-i-hope-i/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [If Melanchthon were alive today, he might not weep because of controversies that surround the Lord's Supper, but he might well sorrow because of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erwin-w-lutzer/if-melanchthon-were-alive-today-he-might-not-weep-because-of/) [Erwin W. 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"That is perhaps the most childishly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-goldman/you-re-alive-fezzik-cried-the-man-in-black-sat-immobile-like-a/) [William Goldman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-goldman/) [Browse all 7,282 Alive quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alive/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If I shouldn't be alive When the Robins come, Give the one in Red Cravat, A Memorial crumb.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Emily Dickinson" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/if-i-shouldn-t-be-alive-when-the-robins-come-give-the-one-in-red/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Alive" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/if-i-shouldn-t-be-alive-when-the-robins-come-give-the-one-in-red/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec6/emily-dickinson-310_alive_if-i-shouldn-t-be-alive-when-the-robins_472336.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec6/emily-dickinson-310_alive_if-i-shouldn-t-be-alive-when-the-robins_472336.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec6/emily-dickinson-310_alive_if-i-shouldn-t-be-alive-when-the-robins_472336.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If I shouldn't be alive When the Robins come, Give the one in Red Cravat, A Memorial crumb.” — Emily Dickinson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Emily Dickinson", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "If I shouldn't be alive When...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/if-i-shouldn-t-be-alive-when-the-robins-come-give-the-one-in-red/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/if-i-shouldn-t-be-alive-when-the-robins-come-give-the-one-in-red/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```