Page:Claude McKay Constab Ballads.djvu/24

20

’Fo’ we tu’n good, came de warnin’

O’ de rousin’ bugle-soun’,

An’ you’d see us soon a marnin’

To de bat’-house hurryin’ down,

Leavin’ udders yawnin’, fumblin’,

Wid deir limbs all stiff an’ ole,

Or ’pon stretchin’ out an’ grumblin’,

Say’n’ de water be’n too col’.

In a jiffy we were washin’,

Jeerin’ dem, de lazy type,

All about us water dashin’

Out o’ de ole-fashion’ pipe:

In a lee while we were endin’,—

Dere was not much time to kill,—

Arms an’ bay’nets wanted tendin’

’Fo’ de soon-a-marnin’ drill.

So we spent five months togeder,

He was ever staunch an’ true

In sunshine or rainy weader,

No mind what wrong I would do:

But dere came de sad heart-rendin’

News dat he must part from me,

An’ I nursed my sorrow, bendin’

To de grim necessity.

All dat week was cold an’ dreary,

An’ I worked wid heavy heart;

All my limbs were weak an’ weary

When I knew dat we would part;

All de fond hopes, all de gladness

Drooped an’ faded from our sight,