Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE SONG OF MALONEY, by PATRICK MACGILL


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SONG OF MALONEY, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: They are gambling in the cabin, moleskin joe, / magee and dan
Last Line: Shut up, moleskin, here I'm coming, is it banker, brag, or nap?
Subject(s): Death; Memory; Dead, The


THEY are gambling in the cabin, Moleskin Joe,
Magee and Dan,
There's a splash of stagnant crimson on the lance-edged hills afar —
I've a whiff of good tobacco, and a bucket in the can,
And a sort of fawning liking for the trembling evening star,
And my thoughts go roaming, roaming, like an exile's in the gloaming,
Through the grey fogs of the valley and the cloud wreaths of the hill,
And I think I see her yet, where in olden days we met,
Awaiting at the corner for her bloke returning still.

Moleskin's plunging bob and tanner, he would call me such a fool
If he knew what I was thinking in the heel-end of the day,
But somehow I cannot help it, and I cannot bear the school,
For my thoughts are ever running to a maiden miles away,
To a maiden hellish pretty, in the dirty, smoky city,
Poor as me she is, and poorer, but a year or two ago,
Ere I came to swine in muck where all nature's down on luck,
She was more to me I reckon than anyone I know.

O'er the dam, across the breastworks, drops the night and fills the land,
There are lights inside the cabin, there are many at the game,
But away down in the city does she ever understand
The reason that I'm lagging, and the why I never came? —
Maybe she's forgot about me, plodding on her own without me,
I the roughest card among us, I the plunger at the school,
And the pallid evening star whispers, "Idiot that you are!
Do you really think she wants you, you a whiskey-sodden fool?"

Down behind the mountain ridges, grave-like valleys gulp the night,
Far below the grave-like valleys lies the town of which I dream,
With its many lamps aglitter, and the music halls alight,
And the galleries are crowded, and the footlights are agleam,
And perhaps the actress singing, some fond memories is bringing
Of the kisses in the alley, and the softly whispered vow —
Here I'm dreaming miles away, she is sitting at the play,
Maybe thinking kindly of me as I'm thinking of her now.

And the photo that she gave me, on the lonely night we parted
I have lost it, 't was the night we tried to clear the McSurly's bar —
"Come, Maloney, fill the school up —" Well, whenever you have started
On the downward road, its smoother than the other road by far —
All right, Carroty, I'm willing, I have got an extra shilling —
Mary Somers, oh, she's hooked up by some collared city chap,
But perhaps I'll meet her yet, for somehow I can't forget —
Shut up, Moleskin, here I'm coming, is it banker, brag, or nap?





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