From Gungawamp

Good friends I’d like right well tew be

     With yew upon the night

Tew hear your bran new stories spun,

     An’ jokes so very bright.

I’d like tew git my fill uv wit

     The kind ‘at nixen (?) flings;

I’d like tew git my fill, I say,

     Uv wit – an’ other things.

I s’pose Sam Walter will be there

     The gloom to help disburse;

I’d give my shirt tew hear him read

     His “Foss”-phorescent verse.

An’ Nathan, tew, mayhap will go,

     A bright an’ lively soul;

His “Limericks” an’ Scottish quips

     Are anything but Dole.

An’ all the other funny chaps       

     I’d like right well tew meet;

O, I can stan’ must anything

     When someone else stan’s treat.

I’d like tew hear the Doctor la’f

     Once more; I would, I swan;

He knows jes’ when an’ how tew la’f

     Tew egg the fellers on.

Alas fur me in Gungawamp!

     I kennot get away;

The caows ain’t givin’ what they should

     The hens refuse tew lay.

My income ain’t a-comin’ in

     Like poets there in town,

An’ – wall, it’s most too feur to walk –

     I guess I can’t git down.

Feb. 22, ‘05