To Pot Or Not

I've been into a rough patch the last week or so - mostly more tired than usual but for all the wrong reasons. That's when it happens. It's a poetic earworm that just nags and nags. I'm not sure where I first heard it, but it has been many years.

      I so tired.
      I so weary.
      Who picks me up and calls me dearie?
      Who puts me in my warm, warm cot?
      Who says I can when I cannot?
      My mommy.

Not too bad. At least it's intended to be comforting and supportive. I guess it's a form of self-medication.

Then, damn it, I got curious. Where did it come from? Author? When? Etc. And thanks to Google those answers ought to pretty easy to find. So I googled the initial words of the poem. Multiple hits, of course, most of which were others with the same queries. Not a lot of answers though.

There were several versions (none like mine) that went something like this.

      I so tired
      I so weary
      Who pick I up and call I dearie?
      Who take me from my warm, warm spot
      And put me on this cold, cold pot?
      My mommy, my mommy, dat's who!

Wow. That's a whole different message. Not so supportive at all - unless your constipated, I guess. I assume the pot is a chamber pot, which I have used, by the way, as a child visiting my grandmother. It's far better than heading to the outhouse in the middle of the night!

Not for nothing but I like my version better. I don't know if I changed it from the original or perhaps just remembered it incorrectly. Doesn't matter. I'm sticking with mine and it's positive message.

TGB