(The Beggar’s Address to His
Bag)
GOOD neighbors, dear, be cautious,
And covet no man’s pounds or
pence.
Ambition’s greedy maw shun,
And tread the path of innocence!
Dread crooked ways and cheating,
And be not like those hounds
of Hell,
Like prowling wolves awaiting,
Which once upon my footsteps
fell.
An allalu mo wauleen,
My little bag I treasured it;
’Twas stuffed from string to
sauleen,
A thousand times I measured
it!
Should you ever reach Dungarvan,
That wretched hole of dole and
sin,
Be on your sharpest guard, man,
Or the eyes out of your head
they’ll pin.
Since I left sweet Tipperary,
They eased me of my cherished
load,
And left me light and airy,
A poor dark man upon the road!
An allalu mo wauleen!
No hole, no stitch, no rent
in it,
’Twas stuffed from string to
sauleen,
My half-year’s rent was pent
in it.
A gay gold ring unbroken,
A token to a fair young maid,
Which told of love unspoken,
To one whose hopes were long
delayed,
A pair of woolen hoseen,
Close knitted, without rub or
seam,
And a pound of weed well-chosen,
Such as smokers taste in dream!
An allalu mo wauleen,
Such a store I had in it;
’Twas stuffed from string to
sauleen,
And nothing mean or bad in it!
Full oft in cosy corner
We’d sit beside a winter fire,
Nor envied prince or lord, or
To kingly rank did we aspire.
But twice they overhauled us,
The dark police of aspect dire,
Because they feared, Mo Chairdeas,
You held the dreaded Fenian
fire!
An allalu mo wauleen,
My bag and me they sundered
us,
’Twas stuffed from string to
sauleen,
My bag of bags they sundered
us!
Yourself and I, mo stóreen,
At every hour of night and day,
Through road and lane and bohreen
Without complaint we made our
way,
Till one sore day a carman
In pity took us from the road,
And faced us towards Dungarvan
Where mortal sin hath firm abode.
An allalu mo wauleen,
Without a hole or rent in it,
’Twas stuffed from string to
sauleen,
My half-year’s rent was pent
in it!
My curses attend Dungarvan,
Her boats, her borough, and
her fish,
May every woe that mars man
Come dancing down upon her dish!
For all the rogues behind you,
From Slaney’s bank to Shannon’s
tide,
Are but poor scholars, mind
you,
To the rogues you’d meet in
Abbeyside!
An allalu mo wauleen,
My little bag I treasured it,
’Twas stuffed from string to
sauleen,
A thousand times I measured
it!
Note: “Sauleen” means
the “little heel” or end of the bag; “mo chardas” means “my dear friend”;
a “dark man” is a blind man. I do not know if it has an Irish original,
but the number of Gaelic words in it suggests that it is a translation.
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