Barber: 3 Songs, Op. 2: III. Bessie Bobtail - Jennifer Larmore, Samuel Barber

As down the road she wambled slow

She had not got a place to go:

She had not got a place to fall

And rest herself — no place at all!

She stumped along, and wagged her pate;

And said a thing was desperate

Her face was screwed and wrinkled tight

Just like a nut — and, left and right

On either side, she wagged her head

And said a thing;

and what she said

Was desperate as any word

That ever yet a person heard

I walkd behind her for a while

And watchd the people nudge and smile:

But ever, as she went, she said

As left and right she swung her head

«O God He knows: And, God He knows!

And, surely God Almighty knows!»