Vain and Careless - Natalie Merchant

Lady, lovely lady

Careless and gay!

Once, when a beggar called

She gave her child away

The beggar took the baby

Wrapped it in a shawl

‘Bring her back,' the lady said

‘Next time you call.'

Hard by lived a vain man

So vain and so proud

He would walk on stilts

To be seen by the crowd

Up above the chimney pots

Tall as a mast

And all the people ran about

Shouting till he passed

‘A splendid match surely,'

Neighbours saw it plain

‘Although she is so careless

Although he is so vain.'

But the lady played bobcherry

Did not see or care

As the vain man went by her

Aloft in the air

This gentle-born couple

Lived and died apart

Water will not mix with oil

Nor vain with careless heart