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BLACK AIKEN'S LOT, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I took a walk one gloomy night
Last Line: "black aiken's lot is bare."


I took a walk one gloomy night
Across Black Aiken's Lot:
And lost I was and cold I was
When, lo, I spied a cot!

A candle lit was goodly sight
As I drew nigh the door,
Where such a welcome as I reeved
I ne'er had reeved before.

A Dame was there in swaiping gown,
With twenty padded curs
That edged a curious row around
And growled when she said, "Hers!"

"Sit down, Good Sir," the Beldam cried,
"Come, sit thee down, I pray!"
"A willow was I and fell my leaf!"
A voice warned, thin and gray.

"Then broth, Good Sir!" but a wooden spoon
Shrilled high within the pot,
"He cut off the head of the golden hen
Beside his father's cot!"

The Beldam turned to a peeled stick
That in a corner stood:
She lashed the curs as it loudly spoke,
"His navel blessed my wood!"

Then flung she trimmings of aged nails,
And a hundred whited teeth,
But open swung the heavy door
And I sped across the heath!

And when I'd found my way to town,
And told my story fair,
Old Luke spat East, North, West and South, --
"Black Aiken's Lot is bare."





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