IT was a Jolly Miller lived on the River Dee; He looked upon his piller, and there he found a flea: "O Mr. Flea! you have bit me, And you shall shorely die!" So he scrunched his bones ag'inst the stones -- And there he let him lie! 'Twas then the Jolly Miller he laughed and told his wife, And @3she@1 laughed fit to kill her, and dropped her carving knife! -- "O Mr. Flea!" "Ho-ho!" "Tee-hee!" They @3both@1 laughed fit to kill, Until the sound did almost drownd The rumble of the mill! @3"Laugh on, my Jolly Miller! and Missus Miller, too!@1 -- @3But there's a weeping-willer will soon wave over you!"@1 The voice was all so awful small -- So very small and slim! -- He durst' infer that it was her, Ner her infer 'twas him! That night the Jolly Miller, says he, "It's, Wifey dear, That cat o' yourn, I'd kill her! -- her actions is so queer, -- She's rubbin's 'g'inst the grindstone-legs, And yowlin' at the sky -- And I 'low the moon hain't greener Than the yaller of her eye!" And as the Jolly Miller went chuckleun to bed, Was @3Somepin'@1 jerked his piller from underneath his head! 'O Wife," says he, on-easi-lee, "Fetch here that lantern there!" But @3Somepin'@1 moans in thunder-tones, @3"You tetch it ef you dare!"@1 'Twas then the Jolly Miller he trimbled and he quailed -- And his wife choked until her breath come back, 'n' she @3wailed!@1 And @3"Oh!"@1 cried she, "it is @3the Flea,@1 All white and pale and wann -- He's got you in his clutches, and @3He's bigger than a man!"@1 @3"Ho! ho! my Jolly Miller" (fer 'twas the Flea, fer shore!),@1 @3"I reckon you'll not rack my bones ner scrunch 'em any more!"@1 Then @3the Flea-Ghost@1 he grabbed him clos't, With many a ghastly smile. And from the door-step stooped and hopped About four hunderd mile! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EPILOGUE FROM EMBLEMS OF LOVE by LASCELLES ABERCROMBIE THE CROCODILE, FR. ALICE IN WONDERLAND by CHARLES LUTWIDGE DODGSON ROBERT GOULD SHAW by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR THE CHOIRMASTER'S BURIAL by THOMAS HARDY ESCAPE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON IDYLLS OF THE KING: THE MARRIAGE OF GERAINT by ALFRED TENNYSON |