Bessie Bobtail

As down the road she wambled slow,

She had not got a place to go:

She had not got a place to fall

And rest herself - no place at all!

She stumped along, and wagged her pate;

And said a thing was desperate.

Her face was screwed and wrinkled tight

Just like a nut - and, left and right,

On either side, she wagged her head

And said a thing; and what she said

Was desperate as any word

That ever yet a person heard.

I walked behind her for a while,

And watched the people nudge and smile:

But ever, as she went, she said,

As left and right she swung her head,

"O God He knows: And, God He knows!

And, surely God Almighty knows!"