INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 521
For they was odd most awful odd
But all the same now they are o'er, There must be 'caps o' plenty such,
An' if I wait I'll see some more.
Oh, I 'ave come upon the books,
An* frequent broke a barrick-rule, An' stood beside an' watched myself
Be'avin' like a bloomin' fool. I paid my price for findin' out,
Nor never grutched the price I paid, But sat in Clink without my boots,
Admirin' 'ow the world was made.
Be'old a cloud upon the beam,
An' 'umped above the sea appears Old Aden, like a barrick-stove
That no one's lit for years an' years! I passed by that when I began,
An' I go 'ome the road I came, A time-expired soldier-man
With six years' service to 'is name.
My girl she said, "Oh, stay with me!"
My mother 'eld me to 'er breast. They've never written none, an* so
They must 'ave gone with all the rest With all the rest which I 'ave seen
An' found an' known an* met along. I cannot say the things I feel,
And so I sing my evenin' song:
For to admire an for to see,
For to be' old this world so wide // never done no good to me.
But I can't drop it if I tried !
