When You Want a Bellyful

WHEN you want a bellyful,
Tearin’ piece o’ one,^[1]
Mek up fire, wash you’ pot,
Full i’ wid cockstone.^[2]

Nuttin’ good as cockstone soup
For a bellyful;
Only, when you use i’ hot,
You can sweat no bull.^[3]

An’ to mek you know de trut’,
Dere’s anedder flaw;
Ef you use too much o’ i’,
It wi’ paunch you’ maw.^[4]

Growin’ wid de fat blue corn,
Pretty cockstone peas —
Lilly blossom, vi’let-like,^[5]
Drawin’ wuker bees–

We look on dem growin’ dere,
Pokin’ up dem head,
Lilly, lilly, t’rough de corn,
Till de pod dem shed.^[6]

An’ we watch de all-green pods
Stripin’ bit by bit;
Green leaves gettin’ yellow coat,
Showin dey were fit.^[7]

So we went an’ pull dem up,^[8]
Reaped a goodly lot,
Shell some o’ de pinkish grain,
Put dem in a pot.^[9]

But I tell you, Sir, again,
Cockstone soup no good;^[10]
From experience I fink
‘Tis de wus’ o’ food.^[11]

When de reapin’-time come roun ‘,
I dry fe me part;^[12]
Sellin i’, when it get scarce,
For a bob a quart.^[13]

When you need a bellyful,
Grip!n’ piece o’ one,
Shub up fire under pot,
Put in dry cockstone.