Silver bells and cockle shells
And spirits from the depths of Hell
Rock and roll and self-control
And pretty maids all in a row.
We skipped to market up in town
We rang around and all fell down
The dish and spoon are on a roll—
Don’t weep for my immortal soul.
If I need help, I’m sure to ask
A flash, a jump, a candlestick
Just thinking of it makes me sick.
The man in the moon took off his mask.
I’m to sure recall I had a great fall
Down the into the well upon the hill
And ambled round from up the ground
The ones called Jack and Jill.
The rabbit hole as Alice told
Was lonely, dark, and always cold
So out Jack set for us to get
Away from ‘neath the stone.
With Jill and I ‘tween land and sky
He found the castle way up high
And fell the giant to the earth.
He killed the giant with his words;
The little dog, for what it’s worth,
Laughed so hard when saw the birds
In the dish before the king.
My Jack, they hung right upside-down
For birds and words and killing things
With flowers in our pockets, rings
Around him like the tarnished Crown.
The giant’s death, and Jack’s as well,
Did lift me from beneath the stone
But Jill stayed dead, and all alone.
‘Twas all for naught, as I can tell.
His pretty maids all in a row
Beneath the earth and stones
Did teach us in our ways to go
For how your garden grows these bones
And takes them back to life,
Though would have stayed with death,
My dear, instead of endless strife,
When once before I knew no more
When still was warm my breath.