Page:Ballads of a Bohemian.djvu/197

Rh I couldn’t see ’is face because The night was ’ideous thick. I just made out among the black A blinkin’ wedge o’ white; Then biff! I guess I got ’im ''crack– The man I killed last night.

I wonder if account o’ me Some wench will go unwed, And ’caps o’ lives will never be, Because ’e’s stark and dead? Or if ’is missis damns the war, And by some candle light, Tow-headed kids are prayin’ for The Fritz I copped last night.

I wonder, ’struth, I wonder why I ’ad that ’orful dream? I saw up in the giddy sky The gates o’ God agleam; I saw the gates o’ ’eaven shine Wiv everlastin’ light: And then… I knew that I’d got mine, As ’e got ’is last night.

Aye, bang beyond the broodin’ mists Where spawn the mother stars, I ’ammered wiv me bloody fists Upon them golden bars; I ’ammered till a devil's doubt Fair froze me wiv affright: