Читать книгу Cowboy Songs, and Other Frontier Ballads - Various - Страница 30

Come all you young companions

And listen unto me,

I'll tell you a story

Of some bad company.

I was born in Pennsylvania

Among the beautiful hills

And the memory of my childhood

Is warm within me still.

I did not like my fireside,

I did not like my home;

I had in view far rambling,

So far away did roam.

I had a feeble mother,

She oft would plead with me;

And the last word she gave me

Was to pray to God in need.

I had two loving sisters,

As fair as fair could be,

And oft beside me kneeling

They oft would plead with me.

I bid adieu to loved ones,

To my home I bid farewell,

And I landed in Chicago

In the very depth of hell.

It was there I took to drinking,

I sinned both night and day,

And there within my bosom

A feeble voice would say:

"Then fare you well, my loved one,

May God protect my boy,

And blessings ever with him

Throughout his manhood joy."

I courted a fair young maiden,

Her name I will not tell,

For I should ever disgrace her

Since I am doomed for hell.

It was on one beautiful evening,

The stars were shining bright,

And with a fatal dagger

I bid her spirit flight.

So justice overtook me,

You all can plainly see,

My soul is doomed forever

Throughout eternity.

It's now I'm on the scaffold,

My moments are not long;

You may forget the singer

But don't forget the song.