Pretty Polly Perkins of Paddington Green facts for kids

I am a broken-hearted milkman, in grief I'm arrayed
Through keeping of the company of a young servant maid
Who lived on board and wages, the house to keep clean
In a gentleman's family near Paddington Green

She was as beautiful as a butterfly and proud as a Queen
Was pretty little Polly Perkins of Paddington Green

She'd an ankle like an antelope and a step like a deer
A voice like a blackbird, so mellow and clear
Her hair hung in ringlets so beautiful and long
I thought that she loved me but I found I was wrong

[Alternative and possibly original/earlier lyrics to second verse]
Her eyes were as black as the pips of a pear
No rose in the garden with her cheeks could compare
Her hair hung in ringlets so beautiful and long
I thought that she loved me but I found I was wrong

Refrain

When I'd rattle in the morning and cry "Milk below"
At the sound of my milk cans her face she did show
With a smile upon her countenance and a laugh in her eye
If I'd thought that she loved me I'd have laid down to die

Refrain

When I asked her to marry me, she said "Oh what stuff"
And told me to stop it for she'd had quite enough
Of my nonsense... At the same time, I'd been very kind
But to marry a milkman she didn't feel inclined

Refrain

"The man that has me must have silver and gold
A chariot to ride in and be handsome and bold
His hair must be curly as any watch-spring,
And his whiskers as big as a brush for clothing"

Refrain

The words that she uttered went straight through my heart
I sobbed and I sighed, and I straight did depart
With a tear on my eyelid as big as a bean
I bid farewell to Polly and to Paddington Green

Refrain

In six months she married, this hard-hearted girl
But it was not a viscount, and it was not an earl
It was not a baronite, but a shade or two worse
It was a bow-legged conductor of a tuppenny bus

Refrain