Belated Conscience
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
To buy for school a copy-book
I asked my Dad for two-pence;
He gave it with a gentle look,
Although he had but few pence.
'Twas then I proved myself a crook
And came a moral cropper,
I bought a penny copy-book
And blued the other copper.
I spent it on a sausage roll
Gulped down with guilt suggestion,
To the damnation of my soul
And awful indigestion.
Poor Dad! His job was hard to hold;
His mouths to feed were many;
Were he alive a millionfold
I'd pay him for his penny.
Now nigh the grave I think with grief,
Though other sins are many,
I am a liar and a thief
'Cause once I stole a penny:
Yet be he pious as a friar
It is my firm believing,
That every man has been a liar
And most of us done thieving.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 44 sec read
- 105 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABABACAC DEDEFGFG HGHGCICI |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 811 |
Words | 146 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
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"Belated Conscience" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/32009/belated-conscience>.
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