Page:Claude McKay Constab Ballads.djvu/39

Rh

I proud ’nuff o’ me uniform

Not ever to be rummy;

Much mo’ fe lower do’n mese’f

An’ mek my min’ feel bummy.

If people like to see somet’ing,

It is a bobby quaffin’

A glass or two o’ common rum,—

Then drunk,—dey start a-laughin’.

I tell you, all my comrades dear,

Dough your pay might be little,

Don’t cringe an’ fawn ’fore richer men,

Deir pelf’s not wort’ a tittle.

My pay is small, an’ yet I live

An’ feel proud as a lord too;

Ef you’ll be men you soon will find

How much it can reward you.

De honest toil is pure as gold,

An’ he who wuks a penny

Can mek his life as much wort’ while

As he who earns a guinea.

Our trouble is dat those above

Do oftentimes oppress;

But we’ll laugh at or pity dem,

Or hate dem mo’ or less.