Identify Meter in English Poem

Hi,

While translating the Tom Sawyer comic book, I found that Becky recites the first three lines of this poem:

If Ever I See
by Lydia Maria Child

If ever I see,
On bush or tree,
Young birds in their pretty nest,
I must not in play,
Steal the birds away,
To grieve their mother's breast.

My mother, I know,
Would sorrow so,
Should I be stolen away;
So I'll speak to the birds
In my softest words,
Nor hurt them in my play.

And when they can fly
In the bright blue sky,
They'll warble a song to me;
And then if I'm sad
It will make me glad
To think they are happy and free.

Can you identify the meter?

Not the sort of thing I would know about in English, but here is the stress pattern as I say it aloud, if that’s any help:

If ever I see,
On bush or tree,
Young birds in their pretty nest,
I must not in play,
Steal the birds away,
To grieve their mother’s breast.

My mother, I know,
Would sorrow so,
Should I be stolen away;
So I’ll speak to the birdsIn my softest words,
Nor hurt them in my play.

And when they can flyIn the bright blue sky,
They’ll warble a song to me;
And then if I’m sadIt will make me gladTo think they are happy and free.

  • / - - /

  • / - /

  • / - - / - /

  • / - - /
    / - / - /

  • / - / - /

  • / - - /

  • / - /

  • / - / - - /

    • / - - /
    • / - /
  • / - / - /

  • / - - /

    • / - /
  • / - - / - /

  • / - - /

    • / - /
  • / - - / - - /

(The - / are iambs, of course, and the - - / are anapests.)

Also it’s rhyming on AABCCB and each stanza is an internally rhymed tetrameter followed by a trimeter, then repeated.

Thank you, Joel. I’ll try to come up with some translation respecting the meter but in a quantitative way.