Giovanni Segantini, Italian-Austro-Hungarian
Mary Had a Little Lamb. And Also a Bit of an Attitude Problem, 1892
Oil on canvas
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Info, or links that point to more info, about this artist can be found here, here, here, here, here (can be read in full for free on Fridays), here, here, here, here, here, here, and here, perhaps in addition to what’s in his Wikipedia page (Google translated German Wikipedia page has more).
/// Mary had a fall of lambs
whose fleece was faded yellow,
and everywhere that Mary went
they tried to harsh her mellow.
/// One followed her to school one day;
it was a high-pitched squealer.
There was no silence of the lamb.
Bleats frightened off her dealer.
/// So Mary’s now no longer high,
with all that that connotes.
she took a good look at her lambs
and saw they’re really goats!
/// Mary cooked a rack of lamb
she cooked it burnt and black.
We ought to note, to get her goat,
the lamb nipped Mary’s rack.
/// Mary leans against a branch;
she hasn’t much to do.
She brought tobacco from the ranch
and started in to chew.
/// The habit’s vile, it stains her smile,
she vows one day to quit.
But look upon her face and mouth—
she’s just about to spit.
/// From deadly cancer of the mouth,
our Mary’s gone too soon.
Her flock of goats (or sheep?) are sad,
and bleat a mournful tune.
/// If only she had never tried
that first addictive “chaw.”
Alas, she did, and at the end
they cut out half her jaw.
/// So learn the lesson she did not,
and it will be your boon.
Poor Mary was cremated
and interred in a spittoon.
/// In this painting I see something weird.
Scan the animals recently sheared.
Does the one next to Mary
have a chin which is hairy?
If so, is it a goat with a beard?
/// It’s High Noon in the Alps and the flock,
mills around in the sun and in shock.
They’ve been sheared to the skin
and feel sunburn begin,
and yet Mary won’t share her sun block.
/// Mary’s wanted. She’s now “on the lam.”
No remorse; she does not give a damn.
“If I’m going to Hell,
then I sure may as well
go get hung for a sheep as a lamb.”