| |
| I LOVE to hear thine earnest voice, | |
| Wherever thou art hid, | |
| Thou testy little dogmatist, | |
| Thou pretty Katydid! | |
| Thou mindest me of gentlefolks,— | 5 |
| Old gentlefolks are they,— | |
| Thou say’st an undisputed thing | |
| In such a solemn way. | |
| |
| Thou art a female, Katydid! | |
| I know it by the trill | 10 |
| That quivers through thy piercing notes, | |
| So petulant and shrill, | |
| I think there is a knot of you | |
| Beneath the hollow tree,— | |
| A knot of spinster Katydids,— | 15 |
| Do Katydids drink tea? | |
| |
| Oh, tell me where did Katy live, | |
| And what did Katy do? | |
| And was she very fair and young, | |
| And yet so wicked, too? | 20 |
| Did Katy love a naughty man, | |
| Or kiss more cheeks than one? | |
| I warrant Katy did no more | |
| Than many a Kate has done. | |
| |
| Dear me! I’ll tell you all about | 25 |
| My fuss with little Jane, | |
| And Ann, with whom I used to walk | |
| So often down the lane, | |
| And all that tore their locks of black, | |
| Or wet their eyes of blue,— | 30 |
| Pray tell me, sweetest Katydid, | |
| What did poor Katy do? | |
| |
| Ah, no! the living oak shall crash, | |
| That stood for ages still, | |
| The rock shall rend its mossy base | 35 |
| And thunder down the hill, | |
| Before the little Katydid | |
| Shall add one word, to tell | |
| The mystic story of the maid | |
| Whose name she knows so well. | 40 |
| |
| Peace to the ever murmuring race! | |
| And when the latest one | |
| Shall fold in death her feeble wings | |
| Beneath the autumn sun, | |
| Then shall she raise her fainting voice | 45 |
| And lift her drooping lid, | |
| And then the child of future years | |
| Shall hear what Katy did. | |
| |
