Classic Poem

The Dusky Knight puts down the cry
That bids the wretched hope;
The blood-hounds catch his jovial eye,
The hangman winds his rope.
And a-hanging we will go,
A-hanging we will go;
A-hanging we will go, will go,
And a-hanging we will go

The wife around her husband throws
Her arms to make him stay:
My dear, Sir John no pity knows,
I must be hung to-day:
For a-hanging he will go,
He's always saying so;
He'd as lief hang us all as a crow, a crow,
So a-hanging he will go.

In vain the ladies beg reprieves
For little boys untaught;
Your little boys are d—d great thieves,
I hope they'll all be caught:
For a-hanging they shall go,
Like onions all of a row;
Like herrings dangling to and fro,
A-hanging they shall go.

Says Mrs F RY , Friend John , be calm;
Thou art in ill condition:—
Says John , it's all d—d nonsense, Ma'am;
We want an Inquisition;
That a-hanging we may go,
And never a body know,
Like Jacks in the kitchen below, below,
While the joints a-trembling go.

At last the very Juries rise,
And beg to state a reason:
You shan't, good Mr. Sergeant cries;
Here's burglary and treason!
What! not a-hanging go!
We will, Mr. Foreman and Co.
Whether you like it or no, or no,
We'll still a-hanging go.

Let others for their wine prepare
With devil or hung beef,
We like a still more devilish fare,
A delicate hung thief:
For a-drinking we must go,
And hanging makes dry, you know;
So a-hanging and drinking we'll go, we'll go,
Till the Devil himself says no.