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by James Stephens (1882 - 1950)

Bessie Bobtail
Language: English 
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!"

Text Authorship:

  • by James Stephens (1882 - 1950), "Bessie Bobtail", appears in The Hill of Vision, first published 1912 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Samuel Barber (1910 - 1981), "Bessie Bobtail", op. 2 (Three Songs) no. 3, published 1955 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Walter Byron Mourant (1910 - 1995), "Bessie Bobtail" [ alto and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 126

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