(FROM LETTER TO JAMES RICE, MARCH 24, 1818) OVER the hill and over the dale, And over the bourn to Dawlish-- Where Gingerbread Wives have a scanty sale And gingerbre[a]d nuts are smallish. Rantipole Betty she ran down a hill And ki[c]ked up her pettic[o]ats fairly Says I I'll be Jack if you will be Gill. So she sat on the Grass debonnairly. Here's somebody coming, here's somebody coming! Says I 'tis the Wind at a parley So without any fuss any hawing and humming She lay on the grass debonnai[r]ly. Here's somebody here and here's somebody there! Says I hold your tongue you young Gipsey. So she held her tongue and lay plump and fair And dead as a venus tipsy. O who wouldn't hie to Dawlish fair O who wouldn't stop in a Meadow O [who] would not rumple the daisies there And make the wild fern for a bed do. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...IMITATIONS OF SHAKESPEARE: A STORM by JOHN ARMSTRONG PSALM 87 by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE A SONG OF THE ROAD by FRED G. BOWLES THE REGULAR STORY by BERTON BRALEY DOGS ABOUT THEIR BUSINESS by CLARISSA BUCKLIN |