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 A Counting-Out Song

What is the song the children sing,
When doorway lilacs bloom in Spring,
And the Schools are loosed, and the games are played
That were deadly earnest when Earth was made?
Hear them chattering, shrill and hard,
After dinner-time, out in the yard,
As the sides are chosen and all submit
To the chance of the lot that shall make them "It."
    (Singing) "Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, Mo!
                   Catch a friend of the family by the toe!
                   (If he hollers let him go!
                   Eenee, Meenee. Mainee, Mo!
                        You-are-It!"

Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, and Mo
Were the First Big Four of the Long Ago,
When the Pole of the Earth sloped thirty degrees,
And Central Europe began to freeze,
And they needed Ambassadors staunch and stark
To steady the Tribes in the gathering dark:
But the frost was fierce and flesh was frail,
So they launched a Magic that could not fail.
    (Singing) "Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, Mo!
                    Hear the wolves across the snow!
                    Some one has to kill 'em--so 
                    Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, Mo
                         Make--you--It!"