Classic Poem

" Mat, come here, lad, don't turn away;
How are you, brother? I declare
You're lookin' awful bad to-day;
You've been and cut your long black hair.

" Here, drink a drop o' beer, lad! " " No —
No thank ye, boys. I can't abide
The sight o' beer now; it's been so
With me since my poor missus died. "

" Died! How was that? " " Well, by your leave,
I'll tell you. I, the babe, and she
Was camping, one cold winter's eve,
Against a little blackthorn tree.

" Across the open field the wind
Came blowin', fit a'most to kill
A man, and she, but just confined,
Poor deary, took a nasty chill.

" Says she to me: " Matthew, my dear,
I'm cold; make up the fire, lad, do!
There's lots o' faggots close by here,
Just run outside and get a few."

" So off I goes, and on the road
I sees some nice dry faggot-ricks;
And takes from one a little load,
To make a better fire o' sticks.

" Says I: " I'll just go over there
To yonder public-house, and buy
A half-a-pint o' beer for her;
She'll like it warmed up by and by."

" A mounted p'liceman from the town
Had seen me take the sticks, and so —
" You black thief, throw them faggots down,"
Says he, " or off to jail you go!"

" That made my temper far from cool;
" Curse you!" I cried, " you've got no right
To touch me. Let me go, you fool!
Or take off that there coat and fight!"

" And I stood up to fight, of course;
But quicker than a wink, he rode
Straight at me, spurrin' of his horse,
And knocked me over on the road.

" That only made me twice as mad;
So out I pulls my pocket-knife,
And as he come to seize me, lad,
I struck at him, to take his life.

" He gave a sudden turn — I stopped,
And saw at once that I had missed
My chance that time; my knife had dropped;
The handcuffs were upon my wrist.

" Yes, off he took me to the jail!
The beaks heard what he'd got to say,
But wouldn't let me tell my tale,
And locked me up, right straight away.

" In two months' time they let me go;
But in the village I was told,
My babe, the wife that loved me so,
Had died that same night in the cold.

" My heart was broken by that there,
For those I'd lost, and loved so dear;
And now you know why I don't care
To touch another drop o' beer. "