Social Commentaries

The Baby's Baedeker: Ireland

by Harry Graham 1874–1936

From Verse and Worse (1905)

Social Commentaries

The Irishman is never quite
Contented with his little lot;
He's ever thirsting for a fight,
A grievance he has always got;
And all his energy is bent
On trying not to pay his rent.

He lives upon a frugal fare
(The few potatoes that he digs),
And hospitably loves to share
His bedroom with his wife and pigs;
But cannot settle even here,
And gets evicted once a year.

In order to amuse himself,
At any time when things are slack,
He takes his gun down from the shelf
And shoots a landlord in the back;
If he is lucky in the chase,
He may contrive to bag a brace.

MORAL
Procure a grievance and a gun
And you can have no end of fun.

MLA

Graham, Harry. “The Baby's Baedeker: Ireland.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/graham_h/52/.

Chicago

Graham, Harry. “The Baby's Baedeker: Ireland.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/graham_h/52/.

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