Geoffrey Anketell Studdert Kennedy (1883-1929)
Woodbine Willie
1They gave me this name like their nature,
2 Compacted of laughter and tears,
3A sweet that was born of the bitter,
4 A joke that was torn from the years
5Of their travail and torture, Christ's fools,
6 Atoning my sins with their blood,
7Who grinned in their agony sharing
8 The glorious madness of God.
9Their name! Let me hear it -- the symbol
10 Of unpaid -- unpayable debt,
11For the men to whom I owed God's Peace,
12 I put off with a cigarette.
Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original text: G. A. Studdert Kennedy, Rhymes
(London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1929): 9.
1929 (7) 3853 Cambridge University Library
First publication date:
1929
RPO poem editor: Ian Lancashire
RP edition: 2003
Recent editing: 1:2003/8/10
Rhyme: abcb
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