Mother's Lament (Down The Plughole)

Traditional


A mother was washing her baby one night,
The youngest of ten and a delicate mite.
The mother was poor and the baby was thin
'Twas nought but a skeleton covered in skin.

The mother turned round for the soap off the rack.
She only a moment, but when she turned back,
Her baby was gone, and in anguish she cried,
'Oh, where 'as my baby gone?' The angels replied:

"Your baby has gone down the plug'ole
Your baby has gone down the plug.
The poor little thing was so terribly thin,
He should have been bathed in a jug (in a jug).

"Your baby is perfectly happy
He's at home and safe with the Lord.
He's muckin' about with the angles above,
And he won't need a bath anymore."