Jules Laforgue

Ballad of Little Weak Heart (poem)

-William Jay Smith, translator

The doctor said he won’t be back—
Mama she died of a heart attack—
    Hi-di-ho,
    Mummy, O!
And pretty soon I’ll also be
Where I can lean against her knee.
I hear my heart go tick-tick-tick,
That must be Mama calling me.

People giggle when they see
My funny face and swollen eye,
    Hi-di-ho,
    Weave to and fro.
I look as drunk as I can be,
I feel my legs fold under me.
I hear my heart go tick tick tick,
That must be Mama calling me.

And so I wander out of town,
And sobbing watch the sun go down.
    Hi-di-ho,
    Silly, O,
The sun, in setting, seems to me—
Don’t know why—a bloody sea;
I hear my heart go tick-tick-tick,
That must be Mama calling me!