Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PIPE DREAMS: 6, by WILLIAM A. PHELON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PIPE DREAMS: 6, by                    
First Line: Ah, but it's good to be alive, wah kee
Last Line: And sought your joint—chase up six pills, wah kee!
Subject(s): Death; Survival; Dead, The


AH, BUT it's good to be alive, Wah Kee;
I've been near death, and now, upon my bunk,
I can feel comfort, just to know I'm here,
And not a mingled pile of twisted junk.
'Twas William Courtleigh's fault. He called me as
I walked demurely down the old White Way
And said, "Come on with me; we now will soar
Into the regions of ethereal day."
He held my left arm, and one Edwin Foy
Clutched to my right, and they escorted me
To a huge airship, tugging at a rope
And anchored strongly to a ginkgo tree.
I entered it and found a jovial tribe—
Bob Hilliard, and Wells Hawks, a beanpot on
His ear for trimmings: Abie Jacobs and
St. Yves, the wonder of the Marathon,
And many others. Courtleigh cut the rope
And we ascended till a fleecy cloud
Enwrapped us. Ah, what pleasure! Gladsome yips
Burst from the traps of the enraptured crowd.
Then Eddie Foy arose. "At last," said he,
"I have an audience that can't escape, and I
Will render 'Hamlet' as it should be hammed
While we are junketing along the sky."
We threatened vengeance, but he quickly drew
A keg of mackerel. With hellish mirth
He chortled: "List to me or I
Will plug the ship and hurl us back to earth."
Just then a gnawing sound broke on our ears
And we emitted one wild, startled roar—
For Leon Friedman, glued beneath the boat,
Had chewed a cavity right through the floor!
He punctured us, and with an awful whirr
We skizzled downward. As we flashed along
I bumped the Singer Building and I gripped
Its summit firmly, while the airship throng
Passed on, no doubt, to doom. Let's hope that they
Were somehow saved—but as to luckless me,
I trotted gladly to the good, firm earth
And sought your joint—chase up six pills, Wah Kee!





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