The auld wife sat at her ivied door,
(_Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese_)
A thing she had frequently done before;
And her spectacles lay on her aproned knees.
The piper he piped on the hill-top high,
(_Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese_)
Till the cow said "I die" and the goose asked "Why;"
And the dog said nothing, but searched for fleas.
The farmer he strode through the square farmyard;
(_Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese_)
His last brew of ale was a trifle hard,
The connection of which with the plot one sees.
The farmer's daughter hath frank blue eyes,
(_Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese_)
She hears the rooks caw in the windy skies,
As she sits at her lattice and shells her peas.
The farmer's daughter hath ripe red lips;
(_Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese_)
If you try to approach her, away she skips
Over tables and chairs with apparent ease.
The farmer's daughter hath soft brown hair;
(_Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese_)
And I met with a ballad, I can't say where,
Which wholly consisted of lines like these.
She sat with her hands 'neath her dimpled cheeks,
(_Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese_)
And spake not a word. While a lady speaks
There is hope, but she didn't even sneeze.
She sat with her hands 'neath her crimson cheeks;
(_Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese_)
She gave up mending her father's breeks,
And let the cat roll in her best chemise.
She sat with her hands 'neath her burning cheeks
(_Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese_),
And gazed at the piper for thirteen weeks;
Then she followed him out o'er the misty leas.
Her sheep followed her as their tails did them
(_Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese_),
And this song is considered a perfect gem,
And as to the meaning, it's what you please.
_Charles S. Calverley_.