Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, "HALLELUJAH, I'M A BUM", by ANONYMOUS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

"HALLELUJAH, I'M A BUM", by                    
First Line: "oh, why don't I work like other men do?"
Last Line: And the sawbones will say 'old one-finger's dead'
Subject(s): Railroads;wandering & Wanderers;; Railways;trains


Oh, why don't I work like other men do?
How the hell can I work when the skies are so blue?
Hallelujah, I'm a bum!
Hallelujah, bum again,
Hallelujah, give us a hand-out,
Revive us again.
If I was to work and save all I earn,
I could buy me a bar and have money to burn.
Oh, the winter is over and we're all out of jail;
We are tired of walking and hungry as hell.
Oh, I ride box cars and I ride fast mails,
When it's cold in the winter I sleep in the jails.
I passed by saloon and I hear someone snore,
And I found the bartender asleep on the floor.
I stayed there and drank till a fly-mug came in,
And he put me to sleep with a sap on the chin.
Next morning in court I was still in a haze,
When the judge looked at me, he said "Thirty days.'
Some day a long train will run over my head,
And the sawbones will say "Old One-Finger's dead.'








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