Rockin' the Baby's Coffin and Other Rhymes: A Child's Book of Crime, Horror, and Death - Paperback

by Joe Broers (Author), Edward Wilson (Illustrator), Ray Hamilton (Author)

The title says it all, except that it's not really intended for children, and is (if it's not obvious from the title alone) funny-if you're not too easily offended.

This is a collection of rhymes that are reminiscent of the "Little Willie" poems of Harry Graham, Shock-Headed Peter by Dr. Heinrich Hoffman, and with a dash of Edward Gorey and Lewis Carroll. Illustrations by Eddie Wilson are appropriately disturbing and sometimes poignant.

The Frosty Morn

The frosty morn that I was born
My mother passed away
When I was one dad took a gun
And down with mom he lay

I was just two when sister Sue
Was drowned in Millers Lake
At three, I guess, my brother Wes
Drank poison by mistake

That woeful year mad dogs, I fear
Bit maiden Aunt Lenore
In awful pain and quite insane
She died when I turned four

Now that I'm five, those who survive
Live life in mortal fear
For they all know one more will go
Before I'm six next year