WHEN Me an' my Ma an' Pa went to the Fair, Ma borried Mizz Rollins-uz rigg to go there, 'Cause @3our@1 buggy's @3new,@1 an' Ma says, "Mercy-sake! It wouldn't hold @3half@1 the folks @3she's@1 go' to take!" An' she took Marindy, an' Jane's twins, an' Jo, An' Aunty Van Meters-uz girls -- an' old Slo' Magee, 'at's so fat, come a-scrougin' in there, When me an' my Ma an' Pa went to the Fair! The road's full o' loads-full 'ist ready to bu'st, An' all hot, an' smokin' an' chokin' with dust; The Wolffs an' their wagon, an' Brizentines, too -- An' horses 'ist r'ared when the toot-cars come through! An' 'way from fur off we could hear the band play, An' peoples all there 'u'd 'ist whoop an' hooray! An' I stood on the dashboard, an' Pa boost' me there 'Most high as the fence, when we went to the Fair. An' when we 'uz there an' inside, we could see Wher' the flag's on a pole wher' a show's go' to be; An' boys up in trees, an' the grea'-big balloon 'At didn't goned up a-tall, all afternoon! An' a man in the crowd there gived money away -- An' Pa says @3"he'd@1 ruther earn @3his@1 by the day!" -- An' @3he@1 gim-me some, an' says "ain't nothin' there Too good fer his boy," when we went to the Fair! Wisht The Raggedy Man wuz there, too! -- but he says, "Don't talk fairs to @3me,@1 child! I went to one; -- yes, -- An' they wuz a swing there ye rode -- an' I rode, An' a thing-um-a-jing 'at ye blowed -- an' I blowed; An' they wuz a game 'at ye played -- an' I played, An' a hitch in the same wher' ye paid -- an' I paid; An' they wuz @3two@1 bad to one good peoples there -- Like @3you@1 an' your @3Pa@1 an' Ma went to the Fair!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PSALM OF THOSE WHO GO FORTH BEFORE DAYLIGHT by CARL SANDBURG THE INDIAN'S WELCOME TO THE PILGRIM FATHERS by LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY DER TAG: NELSON AND BEATTY by ROBERT SEYMOUR BRIDGES MARY'S SPIKENARD by JOHN CLEVELAND AFTER THE RAIN by EDOUARD JOACHIM CORBIERE |