Balmont K. An old songlet

                — Ah, mamma! Why did you say it?
                — Ah, lass! Why did you do it?
                From endless small talk.

Once, a daughter had a call –
With her mother she’d share all –
She said, looking black as sin,
“How d’we some money win?”

“Were I now young,
Up on it not being hung,
I’d win it after all,”
Followed then her mother’s call.

Having sworn to it to vent,
For a minute off she went,
Yet, till darkness got to win,
Lass did not return therein.

“Lassie, lassie – Goodness me! –
Such distress you’re causing, see?”
Anxious mother long shall call:
Daughter’s sent her up the wall.

In this manner much time’s passed;
Truly, Evil travels fast:
Mother let it slip to vent –
Daughter’s brought an extra cent.

Mother’s numb to daughter’s call,
“Do you want to check the haul?”
“Lassie, lassie – Goodness me! –
How did this come to be?”

“You had said – and I went.”
“I’d let it slip to vent.”
“You’d let slip – and thereby,
Mother, I stepped awry.”

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«Старая песенка», из цикла «Проклятия», сб. «Только любовь», 1903. К. Д. Бальмонт. Полное собрание стихов. Том четвёртый. Издание третье — М.: Скорпион, 1913