VAGRANT VERSE

Southland Times, Issue 18929, 1 May 1923, Page 4

VAGRANT VERSE

TO A BENEDICT. (Written for the Southland limes). My mannie, my mannie, look out for th< day When one will stand by you in wedding array, When a dignified parson before you will stand And look at you both with a smile that te bland, Will put a few questions to which you will give An answer that means that as long as you live You will cherish the fair one who stands by your side, Will cherish her ever whate’er may betide. My mannie, my mannie, when that part te o’er Your wife and yourself will enjoy a bit splore With friends who will toast you with words that are nice And say they are glad you’ve consented to splice Your life with another, and trust you may sail, Like a ship newly launched, with a favouring gale, And hope you will find in the voyage the best Of all that will make you and your’s ever blest.

My mannie, my mannie, you’ll fix up a home And you never again thro’ the night-dews will roam, You'll sit by the fireside and, like a good hub, Will make no pretence of the office or club. You’ll be home to the minute when dinner is set Or you’ll get such a wigging you’ll never forget, You’ll be home to a second when tea is put down Or the missus will greet you with terribte frown. My mannie, my mannie, there’s something far worse, You’ll give to the missus control of your purse. When you're wanting a bawbee the wherefore and why Of spending that bawbee you’ll tell with a sigh For should you decline explanations she’ll Ba y» .. “You’ll no get a bawbee free me, Jim, thia day,” And hearing those words, words as dire as can be, You’ll shake in you shoes just as sure as poor me. My mannie, my mannie, Punch gives advice To those who are thinking with others to splice, And concentrates all in one word, like a pill Intended to cure us of every ill— He concentrates all in a word that rings out In stentorian tones the whole world about, A word that the ears of the deepest might haunt, A word of four letters D-O-N-T, don t. My mannie, my mannie, while all men applaud That saying of Punch as ’twere that of a god They go like poor wandering sheep on their way, Fall in love head and ears, bid the lass name the day, And tie themselves down to the end of all time, As I’ve tried to set forth in this list of a rhyme, So Punch’s advice to poor Punch’s despair Fall lighter than feather or dust on the air. —Robert Franote. Bluff, April 30, 1023.