The Pearl/Volume 7/Ode.

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The Pearl
Printed for the Society of Vice
Ode.
1429926The Pearl — Ode.Printed for the Society of Vice

By the Rev. Mr. Bray, on the Death of his favourite Donkey

How well do I remember yet
How very proud I used to get
When, like a little king, I'd sit,
Upon my Ass!

When seated in his nice warm back
My tiny, little whip I'd crack,
And with my youthful hand I'd smack
My Ass!

And when we galloped o'er the lea
I shouted with delight and glee,
For all the girls came out to see
My Ass!

With him my frugal meals I'd share
And nurture him with greatest cafe,
And dally with the long, soft hair
Upon my Ass!

In meadows green he'd love to play
And, when tired out, at close of day,
You then, of sweet delicious hay,
Could smell my Ass!

And when through dirty lanes we'd scud
And get bespattered o'er with mud,
I'd get some water when I could.
And wash my Ass!

But someone served him such a trick-
At first they hit him with a stick,
And then with heavy boots did kick
My Ass!

One day he got beyond my reach,
Into a pond, I gave a screech,
For a blood-thirsty, hungry leech
Did suck my Ass!

And oh! his fate I do bewail,
He backed one day against a rail,
And a long, pointed, rusty nail
Stuck in my Ass!

Alas his end I soon did see;
A woodman cutting down a tree,
Did slip, and, barely missing me,
Did axe my Ass!

I saw him die, I watched the gore
Run from the wound as home they bore
My dearest friend - my wounded, sore,
And bloody Ass!

My grief for him was most sincere,
The pain was more than I could bear,
So now, kind friend, come shed a tear
Upon my Ass!

Perhaps this epitaph is odd-
"A better donkey never trod,
Here lies beneath this friendly sod,
My Ass!"