And the first with his hands folded and a money belt for a truss Said looking into the Commune: Well I will be damned and buggered, Having been a banker in real life, to see how those burrowing beggars Live without mortgages or rents and with no help from us. And the second who had been a soldier in civilian life said: Jesus Christ they'll never believe me when I tell the boys in the squad-room That no one down there says sir, and they won't believe what's harder, That even bughouse nuts don't want to be Julius Caesar. And the third with the teamster's cap and callouses on his wing Said I fell away from the flesh and into the hands of heaven But the working stiffs down there are finally getting even So I'll stick around until Judgment. Heaven is a sometime thing. Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA 98368-0271, www.cc.press.org | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MORNING IN CAMP by HERBERT BASHFORD THE PASSIONATE MAN'S PILGRIMAGE by WALTER RALEIGH SING-SONG; A NURSERY RHYME BOOK: 92 by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI ROOTS AND LEAVES THEMSELVES ALONE by WALT WHITMAN THE NIGHT SONG by MARY DELL ALLEN TO MY FRIEND MR. THOMAS FLATMAN, ON THE PUBLISHING OF THESE HIS POEMS by FRANCIS BARNARD (D. 1698) WOODBINES IN OCTOBER by CHARLOTTE FISKE BATES |