The Grave that I Dug for You!
It was three o'clock in the morning
On the final day of spring,
I was stuck in a hole in the graveyard
Of Saint Matthews, Nether Ling,
I like to dig them at nightfall when
The folk are home, in bed,
Not wandering round the churchyard
Making a racket, waking the dead!
It's creepy enough as it is, whenever
The Moon sails over the church,
And shines its beams on the headstones
Of Jack Dervish, or Bill Burch,
Of mad old Widow Maloney, who,
The stories do abound,
Was carried kicking and screaming
In her coffin, and put in the ground.
My job is a labour of love, I've lived
In this village, all my life,
I know each one who lives here, every
Mistress, husband and wife,
Whenever I dig a grave, I know
Exactly who it's for,
And shed the bitter, parting tear
For the ones who go before.
I've even dug for my own, my
Darling mother, and my dad,
They left on that last long journey when
I was but still a lad,
The Vicar made me the Sexton, so
That I could earn my keep,
Living alone in the cottage, ghosts
Would haunt me in my sleep.
I often manage an extra grave,
That I dig by the iron fence,
All overhung with the creepers, that
I buy, for Peter's Pence,
They're there for the poor and needy who
Can't manage a burial fee,
So I carry the bodies at midnight, drop
Them in, all buried for free!
I always attend the services,
And stand right up at the back,
And that's where I first saw Caroline,
My love, my Caroline Black,
She went to her brother's funeral
With veil, and covered in lace,
But the wind blew up as she left, and then
I saw sweet Caroline's face.
I fell; I saw and was smitten,
She had given me half a smile,
I felt so bold as to ask her if
I could walk with her, for a while.
We went some way, she held my hand
And she looked me, square in the eye,
‘What would you say if I told you that
My mother's about to die? '
It seemed that her mother had cancer,
So she told me, with a tear,
They'd told her mother three months ago
She wouldn't live out the year,
She lived way up on the hillside there
In the mansion called ‘Beau Clair',
I thought that she must have money
But she said - ‘The cupboard is bare! '
The money they'd paid for the funeral
Of her brother had been the last,
Her father had gone some years ago,
And had left them little cash,
‘How will I bury my mother, ' Caroline
Cried, as women will do,
‘Now don't you fret, ' I assured her,
I have a grave I've dug for you! '
The mother died the following week,
The doctor had thought it strange,
He'd given the mother a bill of health
To last to a ripe old age,
The coroner was quite upset
When he found how the woman died,
It seemed the autopsy findings showed
Her full of insecticide.
The brother was raised at once, I know,
I dug him up in the night,
Surrounded by Sheriff's officers
Who carried a lantern light,
They found the same insecticide
Had seeped right into his bones,
And Caroline went on trial that day
In spite of her sobs, and moans.
I saw her once, right after the trial
When the judge put on his hat,
That little black square of portent
That had sentenced Caroline Black.
He'd said: ‘You shall be hanged by the neck,
Pray God for your soul to save,
Your crimes are the crimes of parricide,
They will follow you, into the grave! '
They let me into the holding cell
As she waited to be sent down,
So pale and brave now the deed was done
Though she kept her eyes on the ground.
‘If only…' I had begun to say,
But she stayed me: ‘What can you do? '
‘I can keep you warm, and comfortable,
In the grave that I dug for you! '
9 September 2012
poem by David Lewis Paget
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Carolin Says II
Caroline says that I'm just a toy
She wants a man, not just a boy
Oh, Caroline says, ooh Caroline says
Caroline says she can't help but be mean
Or cruel, or oh so it seems
Oh, Caroline says, Caroline says
She say she doesn't want a man who leans
Still she is my Germanic Queen
Yeah, she's my Queen
The things she does, the things she says
People shouldn't treat others that way
But at first I thought I could take it all
Just like poison in a vial, hey she was often very vile
But of course, I thought I could take it all
Caroline says that I'm not a man
So she'll go get it catch as catch can
Oh, Caroline says, yeah, Caroline says
Caroline says moments in time
Can't continue to be only mine
Oh, Caroline says, yeah, Caroline says
She treats me like I am a fool
But to me she's still a German Queen
Ooh, she's my Queen
Queen ...
song performed by by Lou Reed
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Hills Of Caroline
I was born in guilford county
Way back up in the pines
Its where I hold the sweetest memories
In the hills of caroline
My daddy wasnt much of nothin
Spent his life doin time
But mama learned me about jesus
In the hills of caroline
I met a girl her name was hattie
Fair and tender, sweet and kind
She showed me how to love a woman
In the hills of caroline
I always thought that we would marry
One sweet day she would be mine
But hatties gone, to live with jesus
In the hills of caroline
If I should die before tomorrow
Just one request if you dont mind
Just bury me right next to hattie
In the hills of caroline
Bury me right next to hattie
In the hills of caroline
song performed by by Vince Gill
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Caroline Says I
Caroline says that Im just a toy
She wants a man, not just a boy
Oh, caroline says, ooohhh, caroline says
Caroline says she cant help but be mean
Or cruel, or oh so it seems
Oh, caroline says, caroline says
She say she doesnt want a man who leans
Still she is my germanic -
- queen
Yeah, shes my queen
The things she does, the things she says
People shouldnt treat others that way
But at first I thought I could take it all
Just like poison in a vial
Hey, she was often very vile
But of course, I thought I could take it all
Caroline says that Im not a man
So shell go get it catch as catch can
Oh, caroline says, yeah, caroline says
Caroline says moments in time
Cant continue to be only mine
Oh, caroline says, yeah, caroline says
She treats me like I am a fool
But to me shes still a german -
- queen, ooohhh, shes my -
- queen, ya ...
Queen, hey baby, shes my queen
(queen)
(queen)
(queen)
(queen)
(queen)
(queen)
(queen)
(queen)
...
song performed by by Lou Reed
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Caroline, No
Where did your long hair go
Where is the girl I used to know
How could you lose that happy glow
Oh, caroline no
Who took that look away
I remember how you used to say
Youd never change, but thats not true
Oh, caroline you
Break my heart
I want to go and cry
Its so sad to watch a sweet thing die
Oh, caroline why
Could I ever find in you again
Things that made me love you so much then
Could we ever bring em back once they have gone
Oh, caroline no
song performed by by Beach Boys
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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O! Caroline O! George
O! Caroline, O! Caroline
What are you doing on the streets of Leicester square?
Sitting and soliciting on the road for loose change
Wearing tattered clothes and flying smelly careless hair
Why is the elegant lady I once knew acting very strange?
O! George, O! George
Maybe it is because you left me
Forgetting to pay me
An annual maintenance fee
Maybe it is because you left me
Without leaving behind your Ferrari key
Maybe it is because you left me
Bare all alone, after sex behind the Iroko tree
Can't you see, you were my only golden key to be free
Until you did a three hundred and sixty degree!
O! Caroline, O! Caroline
I have no one right now to make me
My early morning cup of warm tea!
At times I looked out at the bright sea
Wondering how far you had sailed
Not realizing you were nearby and have terribly failed
You always meant the world to me
It saddens me to see this is what happened to we
I take my time now and plea
Let bygone be bygone and let us once again be
O! Caroline, O! Caroline
Is there a chance we could start again?
O! George, O! George
I knew up there in your brain, you were always insane
Have you forgotten those perfect nights?
Even with Viagra, when you couldn’t get it up
Or when you refused to let me out of your sight
You were worried I would portray you as a flop
You lavished me with gifts and treasures
I had taste with style and high standards
But today my poverty one can easily measure
As I pitifully continuously demand
For change with a bottle of alcohol in one hand
It was always your money
While you were chasing the honeys
That made my days with you sunny
As I eventually laid-off the true meaning of horny
O! Caroline, O! Caroline
Is there a chance we could start again?
O! George, O! George
Will you lavish me with jewelry in the rain?
O! Caroline, O! Caroline
Is there a chance we could start again?
O! George, O! George
Will you ensure I have daily champagne?
O! Caroline, O! Caroline
Is there a chance we could start again?
O! George, O! George
I've always wanted to visit Australia, Asia, Africa and Spain?
O! Caroline, O! Caroline
Seriously I say for the last time very plain
Is there a chance we could start again?
O! George, O! George
Are we flying first class or taking the train?
poem by Sylvia Chidi
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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William Upson
Air -- "The Major's Only Son"
Come all good people, far and near,
Oh, come and see what you can hear,
It's of a young man, true and brave,
Who is now sleeping in his grave.
Now, William Upson was his name --
If it's not that it's all the same --
He did enlist in the cruel strife,
And it caused him to lose his life.
He was Jesse Upson's eldest son,
His father loved his noble son;
This son was nineteen years of age,
In the rebellion he engaged.
His father said that he might go,
But his dear mother she said no.
"Stay at home, dear Billy," she said,
But oh, she could not turn his head.
For go he would, and go he did --
He would not do as his mother bid,
For he went away down South, there
Where he could not have his mother's care.
He went to Nashville, Tennessee,
There his kind friends he could not see;
He died among strangers, far away,
They knew not where his body lay.
He was taken sick and lived four weeks,
And oh, how his parents weep,
But now they must in sorrow mourn,
Billy has gone to his heaven home.
If his mother could have seen her son,
For she loved him, her darling one,
If she could heard his dying prayer,
It would ease her heart till she met him there.
It would relieved his mother's heart,
To have seen her son from this world depart,
And hear his noble words of love,
As he left this world for that above.
It will relieve his mother's heart,
That her son is laid in our grave yard;
Now she knows that his grave is near,
She will not shed so many tears.
She knows not that it was her son,
His coffin could not be opened --
It might be some one in his place,
For she could not see his noble face.
He enrolled in eighteen sixty-three,
The next day after Christmas eve;
He died in eighteen sixty-four,
Twenty-third of March, as I was told.
poem by Julia A Moore
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Random things about my Mother
My mother whose eyes were strained
By a sadness that stained her eyes
With grey and blue hue
My mother who never blew
Out candles on a birthday cake
My mother who never knew
The thrills of flying in an airplane
My mother who forever threw
Her pearls to swine
My mother who knew
No contentment in living
My who mother never lived
To be even seventy two
My mother who it is true
Stopped living long before she died
My mother from whose mouth flew
Words of disappointment and fury
My mother whose lips
Tasted bitter tears
My mother sat impatiently
In sorrow through her years
My mother who like Kunta Kinte
Was tamed by Diabets
My mother who was tamed
By my father
My mother who was captured by my father
My mother who fought with my father
The two them struggling false teeth piercing each others flesh
My mother who my father told to go and cook the mint
My mother who would beat us and cause wounds and bruises to our skin
My mother who love to walk about
My mother who gave a toe
A day away
My mother who kiked with her stump of a leg after she lost her foot
My mother who was a great dresser
My mother who could sing
Sang on the church choir
My mother who would be at the front of the church earliest every Saturday
My mother who insisted I be baptized and save by the holy ghost
My mother had beautiful handwriting
My mother who had nine children for five different men
My mother who tried to settle down with my father
My mother who could never swim
My mother who loved to sing
My mother who would tie us up on leashes and take us for long walks through the town
My mother who sought out hand me-downs – for our clothing
My mother who was active in the Welfare Society at church so she could cream the crop for her family
My mother who instigated many a conflicts with her numerous friend was left with only a few in the end.
My mother whom I so wanted to help evolve
My mother who I helped to live
My mother who I had to let die
My mother who lives in me
poem by Fleurette Elaine Harris
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Caroline, No
(brian wilson/tony asher)
Where did your long hair go
Where is the girl I used to know
How could you lose that happy glow
Oh, caroline no
Who took that look away
I remember how you used to say
Youd never change, but thats not true
Oh, caroline you
Break my heart
I want to go and cry
Its so sad to watch a sweet thing die
Oh, caroline why
Could I ever find in you again
Things that made me love you so much then
Could we ever bring em back once they have gone
Oh, caroline no
song performed by by Eric Carmen
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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My ex-mother in law
My ex-mother in law
was an unusual person
that could wish others
into death
and when my ex-wife’s
first husband died from cancer
she believed
that the Lord God
answered her prayer
and for me
she also prayed a thousand times
that same prayer
and fasted
and put tears with it
although I didn’t really
deserve it,
but here I am still
and it’s another story.
Her husband
falls down on the golf course
and is dead from a heart attack
and he hits his last ball
away into the bushes
without any control.
At the funeral
I had to help carry the coffin,
wash dishes
and what ever
my mother in law asked.
Father in law
had a small black dog
that went everywhere with him
and smoked pipe
like Van Donck
cannot stoke up on table mountain
and the dog
then also had to die
although it was great in health
and could still live for years.
I had to take mother in law
to the vet
as she couldn’t drive a car
and hold the animal
while he got
a last injection
and dig a grave
in the garden
and put him there.
l’Envoi
Now I wonder
what goes into such a person
that after her husband’s death,
she is finished
with every thing of his
and married
in months again
with somebody
to keep her company?
poem by Gert Strydom
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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My Brother Bill
This is the sad true story about my brother Bill
who was four years older than me.
He was born and then tossed aside by his mother
who left him to his father’s parents to raise,
then promptly disappeared out of his life forever.
My grandparents brought him up
hoping his father would take care of him
when he returned from the war.
His father also my dad returned from the war
married with another son and didn’t want to know.
They gave him a nickname in private
so no one else would know.
In private, they always called him Dopey.
My sister and I were told
our grandparents had adopted him
and he was nothing to do with us.
When my dad’s parents died in 1958 and 59
plans were made to come back to England
where my mother’s parents were still alive
and leave Bill far behind.
Then as his mother had done eighteen years before
his father abandoned him as well.
For a while, he had to live on the streets
taking handout from where ever he could.
He was arrested for vagrancy and sent to jail.
Getting out he got himself a job and began to build a life.
He got married and started a family,
until one night he came home
and found his wife in bed with another man,
and a divorce followed and he was alone again.
Then after 25 years, his job vanished
and he had to find another.
One day in 2000, he got a telephone call
and did not know whether to believe it or not.
It was a call he never thought he would ever get,
a call from his younger brother - me.
As we talked on the phone, some truths came to pass
his brother and his sister did not know about him.
They were told he had been adopted
and were nothing to do with them.
However, I had found the truth,
which incensed my mother enough to disown me.
We met one another for the first time
after forty-two years in 2001 and again in 2002.
In 2003, this sad story ends,
in the March of that year
Bill succumbed to a heart attack.
His final words were a testament to his life.
No one loved me enough to care.
The sad truth is someone did
and that someone was me.
We never had enough time together,
circumstances kept us apart,
but he was my brother
and will remain in my heart.
2 November 2009
Authors Note:
The facts are as Bill told them to me. A sad refrain to a wonderful guy who was tainted by my parents as being bad and no good. If the truth were known he was probably better than the both of them. He was a guy who would give you the shirt of his back if you needed it. My brother Bill, may he now rest in peace.
DVH - 2009
poem by David Harris
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Caroline
Written by lindsey buckingham.
Shes so crazy
Shes so lazy
Keeps on coming
Keeps you running
Caroline
Caroline
Time recedes with a fatal drop
Dusty fury on the mountain top
Cut the cord if you can
Caroline
Caroline
So attractive
So reactive
Caroline
Caroline
Time recedes with a fatal drop
Dusty fury on the mountain top
Cut the cord if you can
Caroline
Caroline
Caroline
Caroline
Time recedes with a fatal drop
Dusty fury on the mountain top
Cut the cord if you can
Caroline
Caroline
Caroline
Caroline
song performed by by Fleetwood Mac
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Ancestral Woman
I was never child
My maternal granny called me an old, old soul
I seen time come and go
I gave birth to giving birth
Ain’t nothin I don’t know
The sun is my shade I pull it down to allow darkness and light
To give birth to the same day, the eternal now
Then, you ask me, as woman
Then, you ask me, as a colored woman
Then, you ask me, as a female
Then, you ask me, as a black female
Then, you ask me, as a Mother
Then, you ask me, as the epitome of androgeny
What is my contribution, evolution ain’t as old
I been in the grave, beyond the grave
I been the grave, I had to brave the newness of oldness
I remember when silence was communication
Being blind the revelation
Not knowing the greatest education
Nothingness the only information
I am the past, my innateness the futre
My being the immediate now
I am the ancient androgenous embryo
I render gender apropos
I survived domestice violence and sexual abuse
Being told I am of no use
Cause I won’t accept yo validation
As my self-reaization
Then, you ask me, as a woman
Then, you ask me, as a colored woman
Then, you ask me, as a female
Then, you ask me, as a black female
Then, you ask me, as a Mother
Then, you ask me, as the epitome of androgeny
What is my contribution, evolution ain’t as old
I been the grave, beyond the grave
I been the grave, I had to brave the newness of oldness
How does it feel being a Woman
It feels like
I Am all, in all, sustain all, absolutely independent of all
My power never diminishes
Life never starts, never finishes
I come from The Woman we are
She is the ultimate extended family
There is only One Woman
She is the innate evidence exuding all women
My very composition is memories of being other women
I am made of every Woman
Then again, so is existence
I Am The Temple minus the veil
I, Am still waiting to exhale
Then, you ask me, as a woman
Then, you ask me, as a colored woman
Then, you ask me, as a female
Then, you ask me, as a black female
Then, you ask me, as a Mother
Then, you ask me, as the epitome of androgeny
What is my contribution, evolution ain’t as old
I been in the grave, beyond the grave, I been the grave
I had to brave the newness of oldness
Then, you ask me what, is my contribution
poem by Josephine DixonBanks
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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William House and Family
Come all kind friends, both far and near,
Come listen to me and you shall hear --
It's of a family and their fate,
All about them I will relate.
They once did live at Edgerton,
They once did live at Muskegon,
From there they went to Chicago,
Which proved their fatal overthrow.
It was William House's family,
As fine a family as you see --
His family was eleven in all,
I do not think it was very small.
Two children died some years ago,
Before they went to Chicago,
Five children there he had with him,
When death his home there enters in.
The small-pox then was raging there,
And Oh! it would not their house spare,
For all but one was sick of them,
A dreadful house it must have been.
The eldest girl was married then,
The eldest boy was in Michigan,
The second boy he was at home,
And took care of them all alone.
His father and his mother dear,
And dear sister, too, I hear,
Were very sick and in his care,
And no kind friends to help him there:
Two little brothers, and a baby too,
Made six in all -- what could he do,
He had to take care of them all,
The baby, too, was very small.
As he would go to his father's bed,
And try to soothe his aching head,
"My son, I pray you leave me, do
Go take care of poor mother, too."
"Your mother and sister need your care,
And your little infant brother there;
Oh! Charlie, Charlie, take care of them,
My son, do all for them you can."
It seemed as though he did not know
That his poor soul so soon must go,
And leave his little ones he loved,
To go to that bright world above.
But God he called his soul away,
It had to leave, it could not stay --
He never more on earth will be,
His soul is from sin and sorrow free.
Charles helped the sexton, I am told,
To lay his form in the coffin cold --
How sad, how sad, poor soul was he,
When last his father's form did see.
Minnie May House she had to go,
And leave her friends that loved her so --
She was a girl in her teens,
A lovely flower as e'er was seen.
Minnie and her mother lay on one bed,
And when Charles said, "our Minnie is dead,"
His mother then she did grow wild,
And early after knew her child.
They buried Minnie by her father's side,
And left them there where they had died --
Charles took his mother and brothers then
And brought them back to Michigan.
For the mother and the baby too,
Kind friends did all that they could do,
But those poor souls they could not save,
For now they're sleeping in their grave.
Oh! what a noble son was he,
His age was then only sixteen --
Charles House's name I have told before
God bless his soul forever more.
poem by Julia A Moore
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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John Robinson
AIR -- "The Drunkard"
Come listen, friends, and hear a song,
It is a doleful one,
About a young man, dead and gone --
He died far away from home.
John Robinson this young man's name,
His age I cannot tell,
And he was loved by all his friends,
And he was known full well.
His father and mother being dead,
It left him an orphan boy,
When he was with his brother
His health failed him, poor boy.
Kind friends they thought 'twould do him good
To travel for his health;
To California he did go
With his Uncle Zera French.
He was not gone but a short time
When a letter his friends received;
It told how homesick Johnny was,
How he for home did grieve.
It said that he was getting worse,
And his money was nearly gone,
And if he did not soon return
Never more would he see home.
It said, "Dear Brother, will you please
Some money to me send,
For I fear I have not got enough
To bring me back again.
The doctor says I must soon return,
If I wish my home to see,
For if I stay my life is short,
For the air disagrees with me."
His brother Will the letter read,
It made his eyes grow dim.
"Dear brother, he shall soon return,
For I will go and fetch him."
This brother dear was very kind;
With money, he went with haste
For to bring him home again,
But Oh! he went too late.
For he was sick, and very bad --
Poor boy, he thought, no doubt,
If he came home in a smoking car
His money would hold out.
He started to come back alone --
He came one-third the way --
One evening in the car alone
His spirit fled away.
No friend was near to speak to him,
Or hear his dying moan;
How sad, how sad it must have been
To die there all alone;
No loving friends to soothe his brow,
Or ease his weary form;
Poor soul, poor soul is now at rest,
For his soul to heaven has gone.
Telegraph dispatch was sent his friends --
How sad were they to hear --
How their loved one died all alone,
In a car with no one near.
The brother brought his body home
To his friends that loved him best.
He's sleeping in their grave yard now
Let peace be e'er his rest.
poem by Julia A Moore
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Family Homes
everybody's mother is beautiful and brave
but my mother was little bit different
And was at the top of them
she was the bravest...the most beautiful..and the cleverest
we lived in a house
a very very ancient an and old house
ı ts plaster worn out and falling down
once a big and beautiful of our nomad ancestors
the camels of the long caravans used to rest in its garden
now the rooms of the house is rented to families in poverty
the kitchen...and laundry and washing were common for all
there was a in wall cupboard for bath in every room
in one of this rooms upstairs we lived
my mother..my brother and me
hiring it
they called these rooms faqmiliy homes
in turkish
in our homeland in turkey
in one of these rooms
lived shoe maker...rather a cobbler
with his son..daughter and wife
they were our beloved neighbours
he own the the room from his ancestors
the cobbler loved hunting
and had a peculı ar political opinion of his own
at downstairs
ther was a workman
came from his village
a very poor family indeed
wherever he found he worked
if he could
my mother used to help the family
she was found of this very very
one day ı heard the family went to germany
for food and living
my brother and me
were attending to a boarding school in istanbul
we used to come to our family home
in summer vacations
we were very happy in yhose days
with our room neighbours
my brother me and my mother
but theese poor happy did not last long
we grew up
my brother an archaeology professor
me a district governor
but we have never forgotten
those family houses
and the friendship and solı darı ty in them
we remember
those family houses from time to time
they are demolished now
high buildings are erected in their places
and my mother gone heaven in 14th dec ember 1994
her grave near a cross road waiting
ı always pray for her
ı feel she is always near me..guarding me
she was the bravest...most beauı tiful and the cleverest
ı have ever seen
life is not an easy plaything
poem by Metin Sahin
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Jack Ketch
I was only sixteen, when I was seduced
By a woman of thirty-three,
The Governor's wife at the Prisoner's Ball
And she offered to dance with me,
I blushed, I stammered, and hung my head
But she moved with a fluid grace,
She took my hand for the Colonel's Waltz,
And squeezed in a warm embrace.
I did the odd job at the prison then,
Just sweeping and cleaning the yard,
Carrying messages round each wing
But nothing you'd call too hard,
I'd sometimes go to the Governor's House
To help with the garden there,
And I'd see his wife, sweet Caroline,
As she sunned herself in a chair.
She would lie in that part of the garden
Shaded cool by an apple tree,
Reading a book in her cozy nook
Taking little account of me,
Or so I thought, 'til the day she sought
Me out at the Prisoner's Ball,
When she whispered things in my ear that night
And pinned me close to the wall.
I was just a boy, and she wanted a toy to
Play with when she was bored,
She egged me on in the garden shade
While I just felt overawed,
Then I heard that she was expecting, and
She cut me out of her life,
She played that part so wonderfully well,
The dutiful Governor's wife.
A boy was born in the early spring
And they christened him Billy Cole,
I wasn't allowed near a yard of him
And it ate deep into my soul,
I watched him grow from a distance then,
But she finally got me the sack,
She told the Governor I'd been spying
Whenever she lay on her back.
The years went by and I got me a trade,
But I lived right next to the Jail,
I'd watch them motor right by me then
And I felt myself turn pale,
They looked so fine in their motorcade,
With the windows wound right down,
My son grew tall by the prison wall
As the weeks and the years rolled round.
The hard times came, the hard times went,
I needed some extra pounds,
The government service advertised,
I applied, and they asked me round,
I must have done well in their questionnaire
For I got the job in the end,
They would call me, give me a time and place
And expect me to attend.
I didn't speak of my duties then,
It wasn't considered 'form',
It was only once in a purple moon
The official summons came,
I kept my secret and nobody asked,
I worked at my trade by day,
Then every so often the phone would ring:
'I'm sorry, I'm called away! '
For twenty years I held my peace,
But followed my Billy Cole,
I drank in the bars where he would drink,
Sat deep in a corner stall,
I watched him mixing in company
I'd have warned him of, if I could,
But whenever I plucked the courage up
My tongue would turn to wood.
I heard his name start cropping up
With a gang in the old East End,
His mouth had taken a surly look
And he seemed like he needed a friend,
But his eyes were hard as the hardest flint
And his cheek was scarred to the bone,
He carried a blade and a razor strop
So I left him well alone.
His mother, Caroline, sought him out
And begged him to go with her,
I heard him laugh in a quick retort:
'Go home to the Governor?
You must be mad, ' he told her then,
He's not been a father to me! '
And Caroline cried, and dabbed at her eyes
While I watched from under a tree.
I turned away - 'Too late, too late, '
I thought, 'if she'd only seen
That blood was thicker than water...'
But all that was a might-have-been.
The tears sprang as I walked away
And rolled at my cheek, undone;
The dye was cast and the lad was lost
Before I could find my tongue.
He killed a man in a brawl one day,
Over some cards that lied,
Was wrestled down to the floor and held
For the constable outside,
They took him down to the holding cells
And charged him there on the spot,
'It's Murder One, my lad, you'll need
All the guile that your lawyer's got.'
He went in front of the Bailey, where
The balance of justice stands,
The trial was over before he looked
On down at his trembling hands,
The Judge came back, put on the cap
So black, right over his head,
Delivered the dreaded few words that he heard,
And those were... 'hanged by the neck...'
I got to visit him only the once, down
Where the condemned man waits,
He scowled as I stood by the door, and said:
'Have you come with your measuring tapes? '
I said, 'No son, but I had to come,
To right a very old wrong...
By God in heaven, I'll tell you now -
I'm your father, and you're my son! '
I wept, he wept, and I left him there
To pay for his terrible crime,
And I... I took to my bed just then,
Pulled all the curtains and blinds,
A week, two weeks, I was woken then
With a summons, time and a place,
So I packed a bag in the early hours
Took up my travelling case.
At dawn, I walked through the prison yard
Was shown through the bars and gates,
I spread my gear in an empty cell,
And opened my travelling case,
They brought him down with the chaplain then
So brave, but a little sad,
As I pulled the hood down over his eyes,
I swear that he called me - 'Dad! '
24 September 2008
poem by David Lewis Paget
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Mother In Law
(a. toussaint)
Mother in law, mother in law
Mother in law, mother in law
The worst person I know
Mother in law, mother in law
She worries me so
Mother in law, mother in law
If she leaves us alone
We could have a happy home
Sent from down below
Mother in law, mother in law
Mother in law, mother in law
Satan should be her name
Mother in law, mother in law
To me theyre about the same
Mother in law, mother in law
Everytime I open my mouth
Steps in trying to put me out
How could you stood so low
Mother in law, mother in law
Mother in law, mother in law
Come home with my pay
Mother in law, mother in law
She asks me what I made
Mother in law, mother in law
She thinks her advice is a contribution
If she would leave that would be the solution
Dont come back no more
Mother in law, mother in law
Mother in law, mother in law....
song performed by by Huey Lewis And The News
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Oh Caroline
Words and music by rick nielsen
Oh caroline
My life shined when you walked in
Oh caroline
My world shined when you came in
And if I go all over the world
I wouldnt find another lover like you
And if I knew a million girls, caroline
Go to the end of the world for your love
Go to the end of the world for your love
Oh caroline
My heart shined when you came in
Oh caroline
Life means more since you came in
And if I go all over the world
I wouldnt find another lover like you
And if I knew a million girls, caroline
(go to the end of the world) for your love
(go to the end of the world) for your love
(go to the end of the world) for your love, love, love oh caroline
(go to the end of the world) for your love
Can you feel my heart strings?
Theyre on fire
You threw it all away
(go to the end of the world) oh caroline, oh caroline
(go to the end of the world) love, love, love, love oh caroline
(go to the end of the world) love
(go to the end of the world) for your love, love.
song performed by by Cheap Trick
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Rednecks unite!
My father is my brother
My sister, with three ears,
Is his significant other.
My sister is my mother
And somehow, also my brother
My father's father am I
The vile thought makes me shudder.
Grandma was a mule,
Grandfather's sperm, she used as fuel
A french aristrocrat,
Made love to my mother, for he prefered his women fat
A letter written for my eyes
Containing news of demine
Said my true mother was some other
And my father, not her brother.
Jubilant and joyous,
My wife is what used to by my sister.. Or brother?
poem by Thy Mother
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Oh My Sister Caroline
Oh my sister caroline
I hope you're doing good
And staying out of trouble
Yeh, like my sisters could!
Oh my sister caroline
I hope you're feeling strong
You might have to keep us in line
Should we do something wrong
Oh my sister caroline
Where in the world did you go
For everytime I look for you
You have been a 'no show'
Oh my sister caroline
Now smile one big smile
Then hold it just like that
I'll need to see that for a while
Oh my sister caroline
Here's something you need to know
That you're someone very special
And I'll always love you so
wrote 3/10 2008 by Norman Hale Jr.
_________________
poem by Norman Hale
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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