IN Glasgow, in ' Eighty-four, I worked as a junior clerk; My masters I never could please, But they tried me a while at the desk. From ten in the morning till six I wrote memorandums and things. I indexed the letter-books too, When the office-boy wasn't about. And nothing could please me at night- No novels, no poems, no plays, Hardly the talk of my friends, Hardly my hopes, my ambition. I did as my desk- fellows did; With a pipe and a tankard of beer, In a music-hall, rancid and hot, I lost my soul night after night. It is better to lose one's soul, Than never to stake it at all. Some " artists " I met at the bar, And others elsewhere; and, behold, Here are the six I knew well. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CORIDON'S SONG (IN ISAAK WALTON'S 'COMPLEAT ANGLER') by JOHN CHALKHILL |