the blue tail fly
burl ives
when i was young i used to wait
on the boss and give him his plate
and pass the bottle when he got dry
and brush away the blue-tail fly
and when he'd ride in the afternoon
i'd follow after with a hickory broom
the pony being rather shy
when bitten by a blue-tail fly
one day he ride around the farm
the flies so numerous they did swarm
one chanced to bite him on the thigh
the devil take the blue-tail fly
he threw my master in the ditch
he died and the jury wondered why
the verdict was the blue-tail fly
they lay him under a 'simmon tree
his epitaph is there to see
beneath this stone i'm forced to lie