Classic Poem

— A NNIE Shore, 'twas, sang last night
— — Down in South End saloon;
— A tawdry creature in the light,
— Painted cheeks, eyes over bright,
— — Singing a dance-hall tune.

I'd be forgetting Annie's singing —
— I'd not have thought again —
But for the thing that cried and fluttered
— Through all the shrill refrain:
Youth crying above foul words, cheap music,
— And innocence in pain.

— They sentenced Johnnie Doon today
— — For murder, stark and grim:
— Death's none too dear a price, they say,
— For such-like men as him to pay:
— — No need to pity him!

And Johnnie Doon I'd not be pitying —
— I could forget him now —
But for the childish look of trouble
— That fell across his brow,
For the twisting hands he looked at dumbly
— As if they'd sinned, he knew not how.