Page:Claude McKay Constab Ballads.djvu/54



an’ de corpy drink we rum,

An’ corpy larn me how fe bum;

Last night me gie ’m de last-last tup,

Yet now him come an’ bring me up.

He’ll carry me ’fo’ officer,

An’ rake up’ t’ings fe charge me for;

An’ all because dese couple days

Me couldn’ gie ’m de usual raise.

Last night, when it come to roll-call,

Dis corpy couldn’ ’ten’ at all:

We didn’ mek de S.M. see ’m,

But only put things ’traight fe him.

An’ we, like big fools, be’n deh fret

Ober de corpy drunk to deat’:

We all treat him so very kin’,

Aldough him ha’ such dutty min’.

We tek him drunken off de car,

We tek him drunken out de bar,

We wake him drunken ’pon him guard,

An’ yet we neber claim reward.