Classic Poem

High up I climbed in a cherry tree:
Heigho, how the years have fled!
June and the World lay under me,
While the juicy fruit just overhead
Hung clustering, thick and ripe and red —
For a boy of ten 'twas a glorious sight:
Say, do you wonder now that I said:
Bully for my big appetite?

Far in the North I sought for gold:
Foolish I was and most unfit:
Starving, alone, and numb with cold,
When I found on the trail a dog-biscuit:
How I gnawed its edges bit by bit!
'Twas a savory thing to crunch and bite,
And I fed on every crumb of it:
Bully for my big appetite!

But give me a friend this night for a feast,
And one well-served exquisite dish!
He may have what he will of bird or beast,
Or take his choice of fat sea-fish;
And we'll drink of the best thing liquorish,
Bottled in years of old delight,
To wake on our palate the lost relish:
Bully for my big appetite!

Me for a nook in a fine kafay,
With any potvaliant rake to-night!
And if to-morrow the Devil's to pay —
Bully for my big appetite!