Sing a song of six-pence
a pocket full of whys
two and eighty Februarys
ground into a pie
and when the pie is opened
the years begin to bleat,
“Aren’t we all just little more
than lonely, roving sheep?”
He was in his concealing house
counting all his money
hidden wall(s) treet the mouse
cheese-faces bright and sunny
She was in the camouflage
eating cheese and wine
a fan to shade the ever-flaws
that fading personal shrine
and They were in the garden
hanging up the clothes
dirth-y laundry’s pardon
never truth disclose
© Jilly’s & Silly Jilly All Rights Reserved
Mish has us contemplating the metaphorical mask at dVerse tonight for Poetics. Join us!
Jilly's 
Awesome!
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🙂
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Absolutely fantastic… a nursery rhyme gone spiraling into madness of dirty linen.
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Thank you!
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Superb noir-nursery rhyme. Loved it.
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Thanks, Paul. So many of the well-known nursery rhymes hide dark things.
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So true. I think some have been watered down somewhat since their inception.
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Love this!
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Aha this is worbly wise and rather disconcerting…I wonder who he is, the man in the concealing house….I could think of some glib likely candidates…she reminds me of the queen in Alice- “off with her head”.
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Ha! Evoking Alice is perfect. I like to think of these as arch types of so many.
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I think I’d recognize one of your poems among a hundred. I love this off-kilter nursery rhyme with its undertones of Sweeney Todd or someone equally nasty.
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I am honored! There is a strange thread in my DNA, I suppose 🙂
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You do seem attracted to the odd and off-beat 🙂
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I liked the pocketful of whys. Sometimes it is hard to know the truth we want to disclose.
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How true… I think 🙂
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Love it, Jilly.
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Thank you, Lynn!
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My, this is laden! And a quality weave. You do the best work, Jilly! This one will require readings. Several. Bravo!
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Thank you!
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You are welcome! Much to ponder and talk about after I digest it all.
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What brilliant work, Jilly. Wonderful word play and rhyming, great cadence. I love it!
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Thanks Bev!
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You manage to elevate nursery rhymes to elegant lyric poetry that explores the dark corners of duplicitous domestic life! Dare I see touches of Emily Dickenson in your insightful, simply constructed lines? 🙂
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Subconsciously, perhaps. Childhood favs were Lear, Dickinson and Goose (Mother, that is.) That is very high praise – thank you 🙂
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My pleasure, Jilly. You earned it!
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Very clever! Love it to bits!
Anna :o]
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Thank you!
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A pocket full of whys is what I come home with from my preschool class, so I loved that line in particular but you had me singing the whole way through, Loved the use of satire to drive home the message.
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Thank you! I spent some years in a preschool, myself. Most of the whys were ‘Why am I so tired?’ I appreciate the work you do!
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Thank you for that! 🙂
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Silly Jilly — you have outdone yourself in this one! LOVE it! And the ending is superb — the idea of hanging out the dirty laundry as connected to masking! So very well done!
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