English poem
Iii
by John Stephen Farmer (1854–1916)
Suppose you try a different tack, And on the square you flash your flag? At penny-a-lining make your whack, Or with the mummers mug and gag? For nix, for nix the dibbs you bag At any graft, no matter what! Your merry goblins soon stravag: Booze and the blowens cop the lor.
The Moral.
It's up-the-spout and Charley-Wag With wipes and tickers and what not! Until the squeezer nips your scrag, Booze and the blowens cop the lot.
[1: See Notes for translation]
CULTURE IN THE SLUMS [1887]
[By WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY: "Inscribed to an intense poet"].
I. Rondeau.