THE BALLAD OF BOREÄNA.
My brain is wearied with thy prate,
Boreäna,
I sit and curse my hapless fate,
Boreäna,
What time the rain pours down the gutter,
Still your platitudes you utter,
Boreäna,
I unholy wishes mutter,
Boreäna.
Ere the night-light’s flame was fading,
Boreäna,
While the cats were serenading,
Boreäna,
Sheep were bleating, oxen lowing,
We heard the beasts to Smithfield going,
Boreäna,
You said the butcher’s bill was owing,
Boreäna.
At Cremorne, we two alone,
Boreäna,
Ere my wisdom teeth were grown,
Boreäna,
While the dancers gaily hopped,
And the brass band never stopped,
Boreäna,
I to thee the question popped,
Boreäna.
She stood behind the area gate,
Boreäna,
She did it just to aggravate,
Boreäna,
She saw me wink, she heard me swear,
She recognized the scoundrel there,
Boreäna,
She knows a bailiff I can’t bear,
Boreäna.
The cursed writ he pushed it through,
Boreäna,
The area rails, and gave it you,
Boreäna,
The infernal summons me un-nerved,
He from his duty never swerved,
Boreäna,
On thee, my bride, the writ he served,
Boreäna.
Oh! narrow-minded County Court,
Boreäna,
’Tis death to me, to them ’tis sport,
Boreäna,
Oh! stab in my most tender place,
My pocket! oh! the deep disgrace,
Boreäna,
I fell down flat upon my face,
Boreäna.
They fined me at the next court day,
Boreäna,
Locked up, how can I get away,
Boreäna?
I don’t perceive of hope a ray,
’Tis a true bill, but, oh! I say,
Boreäna,
How without tin am I to pay,
Boreäna?
When turns the never-pausing mill,
Boreäna,
I tread, I do not dare stand still,
Boreäna:
At home, of beer thou drink’st thy fill,
I may not come to thee and swill,
Boreäna,
I hear the rolling of the mill,
Boreäna.