Mythology & Folklore

Good-By, Wife!

by Thomas W. Talley (collector) 1870–1952

From Negro Folk Rhymes (1922)

Mythology & Folklore

I had a liddle wife,
An' I didn' want to kill 'er;
So I tuck 'er by de heels,
An' I throwed 'er in de river.
"Good-by, Wife! Good-by, Honey!
Hadn' been fer you,
I'd a had a liddle money."

My liddle fussy wife
Up an' say she mus' have scissors;
An' druther dan to fight,
I'd a throwed 'er in three rivers.
But she crossed dem fingers, w'en she go down,
An' a liddle bit later
She walk out on de groun'.

MLA

Thomas W. Talley (collector). “Good-By, Wife!” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/talley/218/.

Chicago

Thomas W. Talley (collector). “Good-By, Wife!” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/talley/218/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

More by Thomas W. Talley (collector)