When I was young I us'd to wait On Massa and hand him de plate; Pass down de bottle when he git dry, And bresh away de blue tail fly. Jim crack corn I don't care, Jim crack corn I don't care, Jim crack corn I don't care, Ole Massa gone away. Den arter dinner massa sleep, He bid dis niggar vigil keep; An' when he gwine to shut his eye, He tell me watch de blue tail fly. An' when he ride in de arternoon, I foller wid a hickory broom; De poney being berry shy, When bitten by de blue tail fly. One day he rode aroun' de farm, De flies so numerous dey did swarm; One chance to bite 'im on the thigh, De debble take dat blue tail fly. De poney run, he jump an' pitch, An' tumble massa in de ditch; He died, an' de jury wonder'd why De virdic was de blue tail fly. Dey laid 'im under a 'simmon tree, His epitaph am dar to see: 'Beneath dis stone I'm forced to lie, All by de means ob de blue tail fly. Ole massa gone, now let 'im rest, Dey say all tings am for de best; I nebber forget till de day I die, Ole massa an' dat blue tail fly. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BIRDS DO THUS by ROBERT FROST THE ORANGE PICKER by DAVID IGNATOW LOVE'S TENDRILS by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON AND SO, I THINK DIOGENES by AMY LOWELL MIDDLE-AGED; A STUDY IN EMOTION by EZRA POUND THE JOY OF WRITING by WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA |