TO THE TUNE

When I was in law school I lived much
Among English majors. Several of them,
At one point or another, told me
That most Emily Dickinson poems
Can be sung to "The Yellow Rose of Texas."
Apparently they felt I needed to know this
Which I did. Still, they might have mentioned
That singing her poems to that tune
Was Miss Dickinson's party piece.
A few glasses of Madeira and she'd
Be up on a table, banjo in hand,
Warbling "Because I cudden stop fer Death
He kinely stopped fer me." After she died
Amherst parties became so much duller.