"MANY MANY YEARS AGO "

 MANY MANY YEARS AGO WHEN I WAS VERY YOUNG.

SOME PEOPLE I REMEMBERED WOULD RECITE AND SOME THEY SUNG.

 THIS WAS USUALLY AT GATHERINGS AND FAMILY CELEBRATIONS.

AFTER MAYBE A WEDDING OR A BIRTHDAY INVITATION.

ALL OF US SO MANY WOULD BE HAPPY I RECALL.

CHATTING AWAY ENJOYING OURSELVES EVEN US KIDS SO SMALL.

AT THE END OF THE CELEBRATION I CAN REMEMBER ALL WOULD SHOUT.

MARY FINISH THE EVENING OFF AND I WONDERED WHAT'S  THIS ABOUT.

YOU SEE MARY WAS MY MOTHER SHE WAS SMALL AND OH! SO SWEET.

A VERY KIND AND QUIET PERSON AND THIS IT WAS THERE TREAT.

THEY USED TO LOVE TO HEAR HER RECITE A VERY LONG RHYME.

I NEVER THOUGHT MUCH ABOUT IT UNTIL IVE GROWN OLDER WITH TIME.

SHE WOULD STAND ON THE STAGE SO TIMID EVERYONE LISTENING  INTENSE.

YOU COULD NEVER HEAR A PIN DROP I THOUGHT IT WOULD NEVER END.

WHEN FINISHED EVERYONE CLAPPED AND CHEERED AND REMARKED HOW CLEVER SHE WAS.

TO HAVE RECITED ALL THESE WORDS AND NO MISTAKES EVER  CAME ACROSS.

SO ONE DAY WHEN I GREW OLDER I ASKED MOTHER WHY SHE HAD LEARNED.

THIS WONDERFUL RHYME AND SHE TOLD ME  THE STORY WHICH SHE HAD EARNED.

LOTS OF RECOGNITION FOR AS WHEN A YOUNG GIRL AT SCHOOL.

SHE HAD HEARD HER FATHER RECITE IT AND THOUGHT HE WAS NO FOOL.

THEN ONE DAY HE ASKED HER TO LEARN IT HERSELF SO SHE DECIDED TO WRITE IT DOWN .

HER FATHER  SAID ONE DAY YOU'LL RECITE IT AND PEOPLE WILL GATHER AROUND.

 ALL YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS WILL LISTEN LIKE YOU  HAVE DONE TO ME. 

SO SHE FELT SHE NEEDED TO DO THIS AND THAT IS WHY YOU SEE.

 EVERYONE SHOUTED MARY AT OUR CELEBRATION TIMES.

SHY MARY WOULD THEN GET UP AND RECITE AND REMEMBER ALL THESE LINES.

SHE NEVER KNEW HOW HER FATHER HAD COME ACROSS THIS RHYME.

NEVER KNEW WHO HAD WROTE IT AS IT WENT WAY BACK IN TIME.

 WELL RECENTLY I HAD MUCH THOUGHT  ABOUT THIS  AND WONDERED IF I COULD GET.

THE RHYME I'M TALKING OF HERE IN MY BLOG BY LOOKING UPON THE NET.

I WENT TO GOOGLE AND TYPED IN THE TITLE HEY PRESTO!!  LOW AND BEHOLD.

THERE IN FRONT OF MY VERY EYES THE RHYME MY GRANDAD HAD TOLD.

TO MY MOTHER AND FRIENDS AND RELATIONS I COULD'NT BELIEVE MY EYES.

 EVEN THE STORY BEHIND THIS RHYME AND A PICTURE WHAT A SUPRIZE.

 I SET MY PRINTER WORKING AND RAN OFF A COPY OR TWO.

EACH MORNING IV'E WOKE IV'E RECITED THE WORDS OVER AND THROUGH AND THROUGH.

 IT'S BEEN HARD WORK AS AT MY AGE MY  MEMORIES NOT AS WHEN  YOUNG.

BUT I'M HAPPY TO SAY IV'E FINALLY FINISHED THE LAST FEW LINES NOW AND DONE.

 I CAN CLEALY RECITE THE RHYME OFF BY HEART AND I HAD A TEAR IN MY EYE.

WHEN I'D FINISHED RECITING IT ALL ALONE I THOUGHT OF THE TIMES GONE BY.

 I WONDERED WHAT MOTHER WOULD HAVE THOUGHT IF SHE HAD  BEEN HERE TODAY.

WITH EVERYONE CALLING COME ON KATH AND ASKING ME TO SAY.

THE RHYME MY GRANDAD RECITED BACK THEN AND MY MOTHER AND YES NOW ME.

STANDING UP THERE UPON THE STAGE RECITING THE RHYME PERFECTLY.

MY FAMILY NEVER KNEW THE HISTORY NOR ME OF THIS VERY LONG  RHYME.

WE HAVE SPOKEN OF IT VERY OFTEN NEVER  WRITING IT DOWN AT THAT  TIME.

WELL I AM GOING TO SUPRIZE THEM AT THE NEXT FAMILY GATHERING I PLAN.

 TO STAND UP ALONE AT THE END OF THE NIGHT AND SAY PLEASE BE QUIET IF YOU CAN.

 IV'E GOT SOMETHING I WANT TO SAY TO YOU ALL SO SIT BACK AND LISTEN ONCE MORE.

 AS I AM GOING TO RECITE TO YOU ALL RIGHT NOW  "THE FACE ON THE BARROOM FLOOR".

I CARN'T WAIT TO SEE THERE FACES AT THE NEXT CELEBRATION IN TIME.

PLEASE GIVE IT A READ  MY J/LAND FRIENDS YOU'LL ENJOY IT  IN                                      

"MY SIMPLE RHYME.

The Face on the Barroom Floor

        TWAS a balmy summer evening, and a goodly crowd was there,

          Which well-nigh filled Joe's barroom, on the corner of the square;

          And as songs and witty stories came through the open door,

          A vagabond crept slowly in and posed upon the floor.

"Where did it come from?" someone said. " The wind has blown it in."

"What does it want?" another cried. "Some whiskey, rum or gin?"

"Here, Toby, seek him, if your stomach's equal to the work --

 I wouldn't touch him with a fork, he's filthy as a Turk."

This badinage the poor wretch took with stocial good grace;

In face, he smiled as if he thought he'd struck the proper place.

"Come, boys, I know there's kindly hearts among so good a crowd --

To be in such good company would make a deacon proud.

"Give me a drink -- that's what I want -- I'm out of funds, you know,

When I had cash to treat the gang this hand was never slow.

What? You laugh as if you thought this pocket never held a sou;

I once was fixed as well, my boys, as any one of you.

"There, thanks, that's braced me nicely; God bless you one and all;

Next time I pass this good saloon I'll make another call.

Give you a song? No, I can't do that; my singing days are past;

My voice is cracked, my throat's worn out, and my lungs are going fast.

"I'll tell you a funny story, and a fact, I promise, too.

Say! Give me another whiskey, and I'll tell what I'll do --

That I was ever a decent man not one of you would think;

But I was, some four or five years back. Say, give me another drink.

"Fill her up, Joe, I want to put some life into my frame --

Such little drinks to a bum like me are miserably tame;

Five fingers -- there, that's the scheme -- and corking whiskey, too.

Well, here's luck, boys, and landlord, my best regards to you.

"You've treated me pretty kindly and I'd like to tell you how

I came to be the dirty sot you see before you now.

As I told you, once I was a man, with muscle, frame, and health,

And but for a blunder ought to have made considerable wealth.

"I was a painter -- not one that daubed on bricks and wood,

But an artist, and for my age, was rated pretty good.

I worked hard at my canvas, and was bidding fair to rise,

For gradually I saw the star of fame before my eyes.

"I made a picture perhaps you've seen, 'tis called the `Chase of Fame.'

It brought me fifteen hundred pounds and added to my name,

And then I met a woman -- now comes the funny part --

With eyes that petrified my brain, and sunk into my heart.

"Why don't you laugh? 'Tis funny that the vagabond you see

Could ever love a woman, and expect her love for me;

But 'twas so, and for a month or two, her smiles were freely given,

And when her loving lips touched mine, it carried me to Heaven.

"Boys, did you ever see a girl for whom your soul you'd give,

With a form like the Milo Venus, too beautiful to live;

With eyes that would beat the Koh-i-noor, and a wealth of chestnut hair?

If so, 'twas she, for there never was another half so fair.

"I was working on a portrait, one afternoon in May,

Of a fair-haired boy, a friend of mine, who lived across the way.

And Madeline admired it, and much to my surprise,

Said she'd like to know the man that had such dreamy eyes.

"It didn't take long to know him, and before the month had flown

My friend had stole my darling, and I was left alone;

And ere a year of misery had passed above my head,

The jewel I had treasured so had tarnished and was dead.

"That's why I took to drink, boys. Why, I never see you smile,

I thought you'd be amused, and laughing all the while.

Why, what's the matter, friend? There's a tear-drop in your eye,

Come, laugh like me. 'Tis only babes and women that should cry.

"Say, boys, if you give me just another whiskey I'll be glad,

And I'll draw right here a picture of the face that drove me mad.

Give me that piece of chalk with which you mark the baseball score --

You shall see the lovely Madeline upon the barroon floor."

Another drink, and with chalk in hand, the vagabond began

To sketch a face that well might buy the soul of any man.

Then, as he placed another lock upon the shapely head,

With a fearful shriek, he leaped and fell across the picture --

                                 dead.



Hugh Antoine D'Arcy                        ASTRORIASAND.

(Thanx to Chris of Cabs Creations for the wonderful memory graphic)