Page:Backblock Ballads and Later Verses (C.J. Dennis, 1918).djvu/57



"The flamin' cows!" 'e sez; 'e did, an' worse;

'Twas 'orrible the langwidge that 'e used.

It made my blood run cold to 'ear 'im curse;

An' me that taken-back-like an' confused;

W'ile them poor beasts 'e belted an' abused.

"They couldn't shift," 'e sez, "a blanky 'earse!

The flamin' cows!"

"The flamin' cows !" You oughter 'eard 'im curse.

You would 'a' bin that shocked. . . . An' the idear!

'Im usin' such remarks about a 'earse;

An' 'is own brother buried not a year.

"Not move a blanky 'earse!" 'e sez. My dear,

You 'ardly could imagine langwidge worse.

"The flamin' cows!"

"The flamin' cows!" Wot would the parson say?

An' 'im so friendly-like with 'im an' 'er.

I pity 'er; I do, 'cos, in 'er way,

She is respectable. But 'im! It's fur

From me, as you well know, to cast a slur

On anyone; but wot I 'eard that day. . ..

"The flamin' cows!"