Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE SCAPEGOAT, by BURGES JOHNSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SCAPEGOAT, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I'm the only one she caught
Last Line: It ain't only me that's caught.
Subject(s): Boys; Innocence


I'm the only one she caught;
It was Willie cracked her winders,
It was Jimmy stole the vase
Off the gate-post at her place,
Freddy broke it all to flinders.
It was Dick and Bud that fought,
It was Sammy Jones that sassed her.
There was nothin' I had done,
I was actin' as I ought,
But we all began to run—
And the rest of 'em ran faster,
I'm the only one she caught.

I'm the only one she caught;
Wisht I was a faster runner.
Now she says she'll make of me
An example, so that we
Won't repeat the harm we done her,—
Says it's time that we was taught.
Guess they'll wish they'd seen me through it,
Cause they know, though I can't run
Quite as fast as p'raps I ought,
I can lick 'em, one by one!
I bet, next time, they'll see to it
It ain't only me that's caught.





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