HO, pretty bee, did you see my croodlin’ doo?
Ho, little lamb, is she jinkin’ on the lea?
Ho, bonnie fairy, bring my dearie back to me—
Got a lump o’ sugar an’ a posie for you,
Only bring me back my wee, wee croodlin’ doo!
Why! here you are, my little croodlin’ doo!
Looked in er cradle, but didn’t find you there—
Looked f’r my wee, wee croodlin’ doo ever’where;
Be’n kind lonesome all er day withouten you—
Where you be’n, my teeny, wee, wee croodlin’ doo?
Now you go balow, my little croodlin’ doo;
Now you go rockaby ever so far,—
Rockaby, rockaby up to the star
That’s winkin’ an’ blinkin’ an’ singin’ to you,
As you go balow, my wee, wee croodlin’ doo!
LITTLE MISTRESS SANS-MERCI
LITTLE Mistress Sans-Merci
Fareth world-wide, fancy free:
Trotteth cooing to and fro,
And her cooing is command—
Never ruled there yet, I trow,
Mightier despot in the land.
And my heart it lieth where
Mistress Sans-Merci doth fare.
Little Mistress Sans-Merci—
She hath made a slave of me!
“Go,” she biddeth, and I go—
“Come,” and I am fain to come—
Never mercy doth she show,
Be she wroth or frolicsome,
Yet am I content to be
Slave to Mistress Sans-Merci!
Little Mistress Sans-Merci
Hath become so dear to me
That I count as passing sweet
All the pain her moods impart,
And I bless the little feet
That go trampling on my heart:
Ah, how lonely life would be
But for little Sans-Merci!
Little Mistress Sans-Merci,
Cuddle close this night to me,
And the heart, which all day long
Ruthless thou hast trod upon,
Shall outpour a soothing song
For its best belovéd one—
All its tenderness for thee,
Little Mistress Sans-Merci!
LONG AGO
I ONCE knew all the birds that came
And nested in our orchard trees,
For every flower I had a name—
My friends were woodchucks, toads, and bees;
I knew where thrived in yonder glen
What plants would soothe a stone-bruised toe—
Oh, I was very learned then,
But that was very long ago.