III

Suppose you try a different tack,

And on the square you flash your flag?

At penny-a-lining make your whack,

Or with the mummers mug and gag?

For nix, for nix the dibbs you bag

At any graft, no matter what!

Your merry goblins soon stravag:

Booze and the blowens cop the lor.

_The Moral._

It's up-the-spout and Charley-Wag

With wipes and tickers and what not!

Until the squeezer nips your scrag,

Booze and the blowens cop the lot.

[1: See Notes for translation]

CULTURE IN THE SLUMS

[1887]

[By WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY: "Inscribed to an intense poet"].

Musa Pedestris - Three Centuries of Canting Songs and Slang Rhymes [1536 - 1896] · 第 262 / 298 题