Fair lady with the bandaged eye! I ’ll pardon all thy scurvy tricks, So thou wilt cut me, and deny Alike thy kisses and thy kicks: I ’m quite contented as I am, Have cash to keep my duns at bay, Can choose between beefsteaks and ham, And drink Madeira every day. My station is the middle rank, My fortune—just a competence— Ten thousand in the Franklin Bank, And twenty in the six per cents; No amorous chains my heart enthrall, I neither borrow, lend, nor sell; Fearless I roam the City Hall, And bite my thumb at Sheriff Bell. The horse that twice a week I ride At Mother Dawson’s eats his fill; My books at Goodrich’s abide, My country-seat is Weehawk hill; My morning lounge is Eastburn’s shop, At Poppleton’s I take my lunch, Niblo prepares my mutton-chop, And Jennings makes my whiskey-punch. When Merry, I the hours amuse By squibbing Bucktails, Guards, and Balls, And when I ’m troubled with the blues Damn Clinton and abuse canals: Then, Fortune, since I ask no prize, At least preserve me from thy frown! The man who don’t attempt to rise ’T were cruelty to tumble down.
Ode to Fortune
Collection:
More from Poet
|
Fair lady with the bandaged eye! I ’ll pardon all thy scurvy tricks, So thou wilt cut me, and deny Alike thy kisses and thy kicks: I ’m quite contented as I am, Have cash to keep my duns at bay, Can choose between beefsteaks and ham, And drink Madeira every day. My station is the middle... |