Cookie Cooke-Cook

Cookie Cook-Cooke Saul T Dawg (aka Rick Pollay) A public-health cautionary ballad for sailors inspired by a 16th C saying: One night with Venus risks a lifetime with Mercury Lyrics: Come lend me your ear and you shall soon hear A sad tale if you sit for a spell It may spare you much pain, and shame on your name And keep you from going to hell Our county’s log book shows Mr. John Henry Cook By fate wed Miss Olivia Cooke With pretentions of class, they named their first lass Venus de Milo Cook-Cooke Young Venus was blessed with skills that impressed At whatever she tried, she’d succeed She could cook, she could clean, even fix a machine So it seemed that no man did she need But she fancied most sailors, even the whalers Once cleaned up and out on the town When she was of age, she was earning a wage In a pub down in old Sailor town Had a job in the kitchen. Would readily pitch in to do whatever it took And those in the pub, quite fancied her grub They nick-named her “Cookie Cooke-Cook” If you’ve had too much grog and fancy a snog And think that you might be still able Ignore the advances and flirtatious glances Of those serving your table Remember Sweet Cookie Cooke-Cook Remember Sweet Cookie Cooke-Cook She shared her lips with the men from the ships After work when the lamps were turned low Scuttlebutt said she was a wonder in bed And that she held some secrets below She was a treat and was oh so sweet Said those who her pleasures partook Soon her name and her fame had our passions aflame As we thought of Sweet Cookie Cooke-Cook The mature did demure. Said: “You know she’s not pure” You’re damned sure to pay for your sport.” But the young did aspire. Still wanted to try her And longed to sail into her port Once there, they entangled in a manner new-fangled In that fire sparked by a kiss Both changed position before intermission To enhance their conjugal bliss If you’ve had too much grog and fancy a snog And think that you might be still able Ignore the advances and flirtatious glances Of those serving your table Remember Sweet Cookie Cooke-Cook Remember Sweet Cookie Cooke-Cook When shore leave was done and they’d had their fun They were broke but grinned ear to ear But that crew once so jolly, became melancholy When fire below gave them fear When the pox did appear, its location made clear Who and what was to blame When the sores didn’t heal, the stench made them keel And the nights brought on fevers and pain Well, that ship disappeared for nearly two years Before returning to home port and foothills Her sails were in tatters, her crew mad as hatters From their mercury ointments and pills Some left in hearses, while the others dispersed Disfigured and scarred to their shame To be seen no more but along all this shore They still remember her name Remember Sweet Cookie Cooke-Cook Remember Sweet Cookie Cooke-Cook If you’ve had too much grog and fancy a snog And think that you might be still able Ignore the advances and flirtatious glances Of those serving your table Remember Sweet Cookie Cooke-Cook Remember Sweet Cookie Cooke-Cook Cookie found a cure with the Sisters still pure At the Convent Maison Chatelaine But the wages of sin showed all over her skin To the Sisters she was simply “Plain Jane” She joined their ways and for the rest of her days Nursed the sick and the sore wracked with pains Gave comfort and care to those in despair At the Hospice now known as St. Jane’s ! (Easily confused with the better known St. James Infirmary) Notes: The concept and first draft of this song emerged from a fevered experience of respiratory flu, which led to pneumonia. When the fever broke, Cookie’s name and rhyme fragments were still swirling around my mind. On the gruesome scourge of syphilis, particularly its early forms which had effects like leprosy, and the ineffective toxic treatments, see: Frith, John, “Syphilis – Its early history and Treatment until Penicillin and the Debate on its Origins” Journal of Military and Veterans’ Health, Volume 20 # 4 (Nov 2012). https://doi-ds.org/doilink/11.2021-47... Vol 20 No 4 E.g. ca 1500 - "The disease started with genital ulcers, then progressed to a fever, general rash and joint and muscle pains, then weeks or months later were followed by large, painful and foul-smelling abscesses and sores, or pocks, all over the body. Muscles and bones became painful, especially at night. The sores became ulcers that could eat into bones and destroy the nose, lips and eyes. They often extended into the mouth and throat, and sometimes early death occurred." There is some poetic license in the portrayal of the rapidity of progression of both the disease and the consequences of the mercury treatments. Nonetheless, both were ever worsening conditions, a prolonged descent into hell with little respite.