The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #68875   Message #1163745
Posted By: GUEST,Clint Keller
17-Apr-04 - 02:43 AM
Thread Name: Folklore: Cursing Thread
Subject: Lyr Add: A GLASS OF BEER (James Stephens)
Forgive me if I've posted this before, but it's one of my favorites: both invective and curses...

A Glass of Beer

James Stephens

The lanky hank of a she in the inn over there
Nearly killed me for asking the loan of a glass of beer;
May the devil grip the whey-faced slut by the hair
And beat bad manners out of her skin for a year.

That parboiled ape, with the toughest jaw you will ever see
On virtue's path, and a voice that would rasp the dead,
Came roaring and raging the minute she looked at me,
And threw me out of the house on the back of my head!

If I asked her master he'd give me a cask a day;
But she, with the beer at hand, not a gill would arrange!
May she marry a ghost and bear him a kitten, and may
The High King of Glory permit her to get the mange.

love the last two lines...

clint