Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE NAVVY CHORUS, by PATRICK MACGILL


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE NAVVY CHORUS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Twas in the beginning of ages
Last Line: Between a shift and a shift.
Subject(s): Death; Graves; Prisons & Prisoners; Dead, The; Tombs; Tombstones


'T WAS in the beginning of ages,
To the make of the navvy there came
Work and the lowest of wages
Ever a mortal could claim,
Bread, with its age for leaven,
Rows, and the prison cell,
Few of the gifts of heaven,
And most of the vices of hell,
Time, and dislike to do it,
Love, for the wine when red,
And a bibulous leaning to it
Despite what the sages said.

And the demons took in hand
Moleskin, leather, and clay,
Oaths embryonic and
A longing for Saturday,
Kneestraps and blood and flesh,
A chest exceedingly stout,
A soul — (which is a question open to many a doubt),
And fashioned with pick and shovel,
And shapened in mire and mud,
With life of the road and hovel,
And death of the line or hod,
With fury and frenzy and fear
That his strength might endure for a span
From birth, through beer to bier,
The link 'twixt the ape and the man.

They gave him a will to strive
And earn the pittance which
Can barely keep him alive
To slave in the dirty ditch —
Poorhouse and prison they wrought,
So he might enter therein
When idleness fell his lot
Or poverty led to sin.
They have given him transient joys,
They have given him space for delight,
The model, its riot and noise,
And night, and the fleas of the night,
The jeer of the better dressed neighbour,
And curses to every breath,
Labour, and dodging of labour,
Foreknowledge of sudden death —
Foredoomed to go to the devil,
He carries a swearing gift.
His life is a path of evil
Between a shift and a shift.





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