Crazy Nell

BY EDGAR DANIEL KRAMER

Crazy Nell goes flitting down
 Through the wild and woodland ways
In a ragged, rusty gown,
 Mumbling bits of broken lays.

On a day I heard her sing,
 "Over bramble-stick and stone,
Like a bird with broken wing,
 I must stumble on alone.

"Oh, my love is waiting me,
 Weary, lonely till I come;
One and five and four are three,—
 Harken to the bittern's drum!"

And I laughed to hear her go,
 Like a breath upon the wind;
I was young and could not know
 All the mystery behind.

Oh, I mocked her yesterday,
 But today my heart can see,
For my love has fled away,—
 Crazy Nell now comforts me.