Nursery Rhymes for Modern Times
Ol' Man Sorrow
Ol' Man Sorrow got a sack
Heavy 'nuff to break yo' back,
When you meet him on de road
Nebber, nebber share dat load,
Nod: "G'mornin", sidle by,
Cross yo'self and hope to die,
If he walk on — den you run!
Jumbie bad — he go to come!
Iffen he chase af'er you,
Get yo'self to Timbuktu,
Sell yo' shoes and pawn yo' coat,
Smuggle yo'self 'board a boat,
If he wait dere on de deck,
Tie de millstone roun' roun yo' neck,
Jump into de sea below —
Dat one place he nebber go.
Ol' Man Sorrow got a sack
Heavy 'nuff to break yo' back.
When sorrows come, they come not single spies, / But in battalions.'(Hamlet act 4, sc 5.) In the West Indies, they come in a sack. Several of the lines from this sly nursery rhyme came from a group of Caribbean fi sherman over a 'boil-up' and cups of rum around the fire in their fishing village. Political correctness probably demands that 'de' be spelt as 'the'; 'yo' be spelt 'your' and 'nebber' be spelt 'never' etc. But as my pc rating is zero, I have spelt them as they are spoken in that part of the world. A 'jumbie' is an evil spirit or bogey man.