Yanks
by James W. Foley (1874-1939) |
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O'Leary, from Chicago, and a first-class fightin' man,
For his father was from Kerry, where the gentle art began:
Sergeant Dennis P. O'Leary, from somewhere on Archie Road,
Dodgin' shells and smellin' powder while the battle ebbed
and flowed.
And the captain says: "O'Leary, from your
fightin' company
Pick a dozen fightin' Yankees and come
skirmishin' with me;
Pick a dozen fightin' devils, and I
know it's you who can."
And O'Leary, he saluted like a
first-class fightin' man.
O'Leary's eye was piercin'
and O'Leary's voice was clear:
"Dimitri Georgoupoulos!"
And Dimitri answered "Here!"
Then "Vladimir Slaminsky!
Step three paces to the front,
For we're wantin' you to
join us in a little Heinie hunt!"
"Garibaldi
Ravioli!" Garibaldi was to share;
And "Ole Axel Kettleson!"
and "Thomas Scalp-the-Bear!"
Who was Choctaw by
inheritance, bred in the blood and bones,
But set down in
army records by the name of Thomas Jones.
"Van Winkle
Schuyler Stuyvesant!" Van Winkle was a bud
From the
ancient tree of Stuyvesant and had it in his blood;
"Don
Miguel de Colombo!" Don Miguel's next of kin
Were across
the Rio Grande when Don Miguel went in.
"Ulysses
Grant O'Sheridan!" Ulysses' sire, you see,
Had been at
Appomattox near the famous apple-tree;
And "Patrick
Michael Casey!" Patrick Michael, you can tell,
Was a
fightin' man by nature with three fightin' names as well.
"Joe Wheeler Lee!" And Joseph had a pair of fightin'
eyes;
And his granddad was a Johnny, as perhaps you might
surmise;
Then "Robert Bruce MacPherson!" And the Yankee
squad was done
With "Isaac Abie Cohen!" once a
lightweight champion.
Then O'Leary paced 'em forward
and, says he: "You Yanks, fall in!"
And he marched 'em to
the captain. "Let the skirmishin' begin."
Says he, "The
Yanks are comin', and you beat 'em if you can!"
And
saluted like a soldier and first-class fightin' man! |
By James W. Foley (1874-1939)
Listed October 14, 2012 |
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