Song cycle based on Mother Goose rhymes, second in a larger song cycle:

• Suite of Rhymes (1969)
• Songs of Wisdom (1972)
• Sonata for an Old Woman (1971)
• Sinfonia for a Wedding (1974)

Realizations

I.
I'll sing you a song
Nine verses long,
For a pin.

Three and three are six,
And three are nine;
You are a fool
And the pin is mine.

II.
When I was a little boy
I had but little wit,
'Tis a long time ago,
And I have no more yet.
Nor ever, ever shall,
Until that I die,
For the longer I live,
The more fool am I.

Solutions

I.
There was a man so wise,
He jump't into a bramble bush,
And scratch't out both his eyes.
And when he saw his eyes were out,
And reason to complain,
He jump't into a quickset hedge,
And scrach't them in again.

II.
Three wise men of Gotham
They went to sea in a bowl,
And if the bowl had been stronger
My song had been longer.

Conclusions

I.
As foolish as monkeys till twenty and more,
As bold as a lion till forty and four,
As cunning as foxes till threescore and ten,
We then become asses, and are no more men.

II.
If you are not handsome at twenty,
Not strong at thirty,
Not rich at forty,
Not wise at fifty,
You never will be.