Mattie

Mattie walked out on a frozen night He was heading for the pub and he had no delight His head down on the railroad track And his old cow Delia sad lowin' him back He met with a dark and staggerin' man As he passed him by shouted back at him: Mattie can't you see what's become of me I cannot feel the fine The very last house that I've left Half impressed with my rhymes They're now all dead to me All I've got left is the beat of the stagger Heading down the Curra Line But Mattie passed on as quick as he could He couldn't stand such a drunken man sober All he wanted was the light in the bar The 'Nightingale' and the 'Wild Rover'. When he came in They were sayin': Now you're back Did Delia drive you out With your spoutin' and your swearin'? I don't want to hear about Bunker Hayden But later you can give us the 'Girls of Kinkane'. The fear-a-ti eyed him warily As he handed him his first jar of porter He says: You must have seen the bishop's ghost tonight To put the dry look back in your eye. But Mattie would not be taken in By their jibin' and their regalin' He found himself a freshly blown crew And fell in with their sport and their bailin'. But as he was going home, in the very same spot Where he met his dark familiar He seen him comin' back down the line And he was bright, strange and fine. As he passed him by Mattie threw out his arms Trying to grab hold of his likeness In the morning all they found was a frozen corpse And the butt of Curra Line. And at the wake They were lashin' down 'The drops of brandy' 'The old fashioned habit' In the church they were lashin' down pounds and fivers So Mattie would be fine in the old by and by. Mattie walked out on a frozen night Heading for the pub and he had no delight His head down on the railroad track And his old cow Delia sad lowin' him back He met with a dark and staggerin' man As he passed him by shouted back at him: Mattie can't you see what's become of me I cannot feel the fine