Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BALLAD OF A WISTFUL LADY, by MARJORIE ALLEN SEIFFERT


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BALLAD OF A WISTFUL LADY, by                    
First Line: She was a wistful lady
Last Line: Heigh-ho!
Alternate Author Name(s): Cypher, Angela; Hay, Elijah
Subject(s): Fish & Fishing; Women


She was a wistful lady,
A wishful wistful lady,
She did not know nothing
But she did not know much --
Heigh-ho!

She wished when she was twenty
And she had time a-plenty;
But after-while she was forty --
Ah me, life is such,
Well-a-day!

And she gave over wishing,
As a man comes home from fishing
Who has not caught nothing
But who has not caught much.
Heigh-ho!

She had a silver minny,
A skimpy thing and finny.
It would not be no supper,
But none grew fat on such --
Well-a-day!

It would not do for the skillet
As codfish, pike or millet,
For she had not learned nothing
Though she had not learned much --
Heigh-ho!

And gold-fish are more shiny;
But this was bright and tiny,
So she put it in a gold-fish bowl
And treated it as such --
Well-a-day!

She wished no more to be wistful,
Of fish she had no fistful;
But she did not have nothing,
And she did not need much --
Heigh-ho!





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