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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SEUMAS BEG by JAMES STEPHENS

First Line: A MAN WAS SITTING UNDERNEATH A TREE
Last Line: HE WAS A REAL NICE MAN! HE LIKED ME TOO!
Subject(s): IRELAND; IRISH;

A man was sitting underneath a tree
Outside the village; and he asked me what
Name was upon this place; and said that he
Was never here before -- He told a lot

Of stories to me too. His nose was flat!
I asked him how it happened, and he said
-- The first mate of the Holy Ghost did that
With a marling-spike one day; but he was dead;

And jolly good job too; and he'd have gone
A long way to have killed him -- Oh, he had
A gold ring in one ear; the other one
-- "Was bit off by a crocodile, bedad!" --

That's what he said. He taught me how to chew!
He was a real nice man! He liked me too!



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