Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, OLD WOMEN'S SAYINGS, by ANONYMOUS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

OLD WOMEN'S SAYINGS, by                    
First Line: Draw near and give attention
Last Line: Of the olden time
Subject(s): Death;proverbs;women; "dead, The;maxims;adages;


Draw near and give attention,
And you shall hear in rhyme
The old women's sayings
In the olden time.
High and low, rich and poor,
By daylight or dark,
Are sure to make
Some curious remark;
With some foolish idea
Your brains they will bother,
For some believe one thing,
And some believe another.

Chorus

These are odds and ends
And superstitious ways
The signs and the tokens
Of my grandmother's days.
The first thing you will see
At the house of rich or poor,
To keep the witches out,
A horse-shoe o'er the door,
Bellows on the table
Cause a row by day and night,
If there's two knives across
You are sure to have a fight;
There's a stranger in the grate,
Or if the cat should sneeze,
Or lay before the fire,
It will rain or freeze.

A cinder with a hole
In the middle, is a purse,
But a long one from the fire
Is a coffin -- which is worse.
A spider ticking in the wall
Is the death watch at night,
A spark in the candle
Is a letter, sure as life;
If your right eye itches
You'll cry till out of breath,
A winding sheet in the candle
Is a sure sign of death.

If your left eye itches
You will laugh outright;
But the left or right
Is very good at night.
If your elbow itch
A strange bed-fellow found,
If the bottom of your foot itch
You'll tread on fresh ground;
If your knee itch you'll kneel
In a church, that's a good 'un,
And if your belly itch
You'll get a lot of pudding.

If your back should itch
I do declare
Butter will be cheap
When the grass grows there.
If the dog howl at night
Or mournfully cry,
Or if the cock should crow
There will somebody die;
If you stumble upstairs,
Indeed I'm no railer,
You'll be married to a snob
Or else a tailor.

A speck on your finger nail
Is a gift, that's funny,
If your hand itch in the middle
You will get some money.
Spilling of the salt
Is anger outright,
You will see a ghost if the door
Should rattle in the night;
If your sweetheart
Dreams of bacon and eggs,
She'll have a little boy
That has got three legs.

The cat washing her face,
The wind will blow,
If the cat licks her foot
It is sure to snow.
Put your gown or your jacket
On, inside out,
You will change your luck,
And be put to the rout.
If your nose itches
You'll get vexed till you jump,
If your great toe itch
You'll get a kick in the rump.

If a girl snap one finger
She'll have a child, it seems,
And if she snaps two
She's sure to have twins,
And if she snaps eight,
Nine, ten, or eleven,
It's a chance if she don't
Have twenty and seven;
If you lay with your head
Underneath the clothes
You'll have an ugly old man,
What has got no nose.

If you see a star shoot
You'll get what you wish,
If a hair gets in your mouth
You'll get drunk as a fish,
If your little toe itch
You'll be lost in a wave,
If you shiver, there's somebody
Going over your grave;
If you go under a ladder
You will have bad luck and fall,
And some say bad luck
Is better than no luck at all.

So to please you outright
I have told you in rhyme
The great superstitions
Of the olden time.





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