"Poor Mary" or "Poor Jenny" is a popular English language

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 nursery rhyme

Nursery rhyme

The term nursery rhyme is used for "traditional" poems for young children in Britain and many other countries, but usage only dates from the 19th century and in North America the older ‘Mother Goose Rhymes’ is still often used.-Lullabies:...

 and singing game

Singing game

A singing game is an activity based around a particular verse or rhyme, usually associated with a set of actions and movements. They have been studied by folklorists, ethnologists and psychologists and are seen as important part of childhood culture...

. It has a Roud Folk Song Index

Roud Folk Song Index

The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of 300,000 references to over 21,600 songs that have been collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world...

 number of 1377.

Lyrics

Lyrics vary considerably for this song, with over a hundred known variations have been collected in Britain since the 1880s, not least in the use of the names including Jenny, Mary or Sally. Common modern versions include:

Poor Jenny is a-weeping,

A-weeping, a-weeping,

Poor Jenny is a-weeping

On a bright summer’s day.

Why are you weeping,

Weeping, weeping,

Why are you weeping,

On a bright summer's day?

I'm weeping for a loved one,

A loved one, a loved one,

I'm weeping for a loved one,

On a bright summer's day?

Stand up and choose your loved one,

Your loved one, your loved one,

Stand up and choose your loved one,

One a bright summer's day.

Shake hands before you leave 'er,

You leave 'er, you leave 'er,

Shake hands before you leave 'er,

On a bright summer's day.

The game

One child of the group is chosen to be "Jenny" or "Mary" etc, and has to kneel in the middle of a circle, usually with head in hands. The other children join their hands and walk around the other child singing the first verse. The child in the centre then carries out the actions of the following verses, most importantly choosing a partner.

The tune

The tune to this song was used by Dmitri Shostakovich

Dmitri Shostakovich

Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....

 in his first Piano Concerto, op.35.

Piano Concerto No. 1 (Shostakovich)

The Concerto in C minor for Piano, Trumpet, and String Orchestra, Op. 35, was completed by Dmitri Shostakovich in 1933 and premiered the same year by the composer at the piano and the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra. Despite the title, it is a true piano concerto rather than a double concerto in...