To Jessica, Gone Back To The City
By Ellis Parker Butler
Sence fair Jessica hez left us
Seems ez ef she hed bereft us,
When she went, o half o livin;
Fer we never knowed shed driven
Into us so much content,
Till fair Jessica hed went.
(Knowed a feller once thet cried
When his yaller dog hed died.)
We haint near ez bright an chirky,
An the sun shines blue an murky,
Kind o sadly an dishearted,
Like ets sperret bed departed;
Just ez ef ets joy bed ceased
Sence fair Jessica s gone East.
(Not but what ets always sober
Sort o weather in October.)
Then the posies, too, seems human,
An hez all quit o their bloomin;
An the trees they show a pallor
An hey turned a heart-sick yaller,
Sayin, No use livin on
Ef fair Jessica hez gone.
(Folks thet knows sez this ez all
Very common in the fall.)
Truth ez, Im a-feelin sadly;
Things ez goin kind o badly
Round my heart an other vitals
(Brings on poetry recitals
O my woes most evry day)
Sence fair Jessicas away.
(Kind o think thet I will haf ter
Smoke a leetle less hereafter.)
But, with fun aside, you know,
Were blamed sorry she must go;
An we hope shell think, maybe,
Z well o us ez we o she.