[Editor: This poem by William Blocksidge (also known as William Baylebridge) was published in Songs o’ the South (1908).]
Away, O Folly!
Away! Away! O Folly, away!
For a fool’s e’er found with thee.
Away, O Folly, thou jade so jolly!
Away! Away from me!
What though they’ll say that my heart is old,
That my limbs are stiff, and my blood runs cold,
That leaving the sports of a gallant bold
Means living with Melancholy!
Means living with Melancholy!
Then away! Away! O Folly, away!
For a fool’s e’er found with thee.
Away, O Folly, thou jade so jolly!
Away! Away from me!
For fools run bills with a pleasure gay;
But the reckoning comes when it’s hard to pay,
And none the creditor’s hand can stay.
What then, thou jade so jolly?
What then, thou jade so jolly?
So away! Away! O Folly, away!
For a fool’s e’er found with thee.
Away, O Folly, thou jade so jolly!
Away! Away from me!
For a foolish man is but Folly’s toy;
And the sport is sad when the jade is coy;
And a pure heart beats with the purest joy.
So away! Away, O Folly!
Away, O Folly! Away!
Source:
William Blocksidge, Songs o’ the South, London: Watts, 1908, pp. 11-12
Editor’s notes:
e’er = (vernacular) an archaic contraction of “ever”
gay = happy, joyous, carefree (may also mean well-decorated, bright, attractive) (in modern times it may especially refer to a homosexual, especially a male homosexual; may also refer to something which is no good, pathetic, useless)
jade = a worthless woman (derived from “jade” as applied to a worn-out or worthless horse or an ill-tempered horse); a disreputable or flirtatious woman; an ill-tempered woman
stay = stop; halt; to stop the course of something (also: to remain in a set place, situation, or state of being)
thee = (archaic) you
thou = (archaic) you
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