Page:The Smart Set (Volume 1).djvu/486
A BALLADE OF MAY
Jewel month of the year's bright crown,
Beauty rose of the earth's forenoon,
Poets of old have writ thee down
Butterfly from the frost cocoon,
Fairer even than fairy June;
With Early English they all made gay,
But what did they mean when they strummed this tune—
"Sing ti-addy-addy-tooloorelay?”"
Whether they sighed to a lady's frown,
Or begged her glove as a lover's boon,
Bards who harped into great renown,
Or jested in numbers from wit immune
Ever anon and late and soon,
We can understand their "Hey—sing hey!"
But the old cow died when she heard this rune—
"Sing ti-addy-addy-tooloorelay!"
"Fol de rol!" in a brocade gown,
Or sipping sack from a silver spoon
Deep in the taproom of the town—
"Honey heigh ho!" by the crescent moon—
"Falera loo!" over hill and dune—
All these their jubilant meanings say,
But at this limp line our senses swoon—
"Sing ti-addy-addy-tooloorelay!"
L'ENVOI
Tell me, Prince Poet none may impugn,
When they sang their old-time songs of May,
Why, oh, why, did they lilt and loon
"Sing ti-addy-addy-tooloorelay?"
Kate Masterton.
AN ILLUMINATING QUESTION
He—She must be from Chicago.
She—What leads you to think so?
"I overheard him ask her how long she had ever been single at one time."