Sing a Song of Sixpence

Sing a song of sixpence a pocket full of rye,

Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie.

When the pie was opened the birds began to sing,

Oh wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the king?

The king was in his counting house counting out his money,

The queen was in the parlour eating bread and honey

The maid was in the garden hanging out the clothes,

When down came a blackbird and pecked off her nose!

this is clearly related to pasties; in Cornwall the "blackbirds" may well have been choughs

TS Eliot : the Pastieland

i must confess that my initial interest in the whole pastie-shtick was ignited by this little known poem by TS Eliot:

THE RECYCLING OF THE DEAD

ἔννεπέ μοι, φράσον, τίνι μόρῳ θνῄσκει

ἄδικος ἄδικά τ᾽ ἐκπορίζων ἀνήρ;

Chomp chomp ~ chérie do you remember
Chomp ~ it was a cruel month
Brekekekex koax koax
October dis-tu ?
We were fishing for mackerel
Krak Krak went the chevaliers
Mais ~ chomp ~ les maqueraux n'étaient pas là

A hard time ~ chomp ~ we had of it
Would Sir like ~ chomp ~ Sky in his room ?
Chomp ~ je mourrais pour avoir du ciel dans ce foutoir
Brekekekex koax koax
Aut tunc aut nunquam ~ perhaps you may say ~ chomp ~ it would be
~ chomp ~ better not to dwell on the pasty

φρονήσασαι μὲν οἷ᾽ ἐδράσατε
ἀλγήσετ᾽ ἄλγος δεινόν· εἰ δὲ διὰ τέλους
ἐν τῷδ᾽ ἀεὶ μενεῖτ᾽ ἐν ᾧ καθέστατε,
οὐκ εὐτυχοῦσαι δόξετ᾽ οὐχὶ δυστυχεῖν

Pastih Pastih Pastih


I have been unable to locate this in any of the standard anthologies.... anyone ?