Barney McGee, you're the pick of gentility; Nothing can phase you, you've such a facility; Nobody ever yet found your utility,-- That is the charm of you, Barney McGee; Under conditions that others would stammer in, Still unperturbed as a cat or a Cameron, Polished as somebody in the Decameron, Putting the glamour on prince or Pawnee! In your meanderin', Love, and philanderin', Calm as a mandarin Sipping his tea! Under the art of you, Parcel and part of you, Here's to the heart of you, Barney McGee! 

  You who were ever alert to befriend a man, You who were ever the first to defend a man, You who had always the money to lend a man, Down on his luck and hard up for a V! Sure, you'll be playing a harp in beatitude (And a quare sight you will be in that attitude)-- Some day, where gratitude seems but a platitude, You'll find your latitude, Barney McGee. That's no flim-flam at all, Frivol or sham at all, Just the plain--Damn it all, Have one with me! Here's luck and more to you! Friends by the score to you, True to the core to you, Barney McGee! 

THE SEA GYPSY.

 I am fevered with the sunset, I am fretful with the bay, For the wander-thirst is on me And my soul is in Cathay. 

 There's a schooner in the offing, With her topsails shot with fire, And my heart has gone aboard her For the Islands of Desire. 

 I must forth again to-morrow! With the sunset I must be Hull down on the trail of rapture In the wonder of the sea. 

SPEECH AND SILENCE.

 The words that pass from lip to lip For souls still out of reach! A friend for that companionship That's deeper than all speech! 

SECRETS.

 Three secrets that never were said: The stir of the sap in the spring, The desire of a man to a maid, The urge of a poet to sing. 

THE FIRST JULEP.

 I love the lazy Southern spring, The way she melts around a chap And lets the great magnolias fling Their languid petals in his lap. 

 I love to travel down half-way And meet her coming up the earth, With hurdy-gurdy men who play And make the children dance for mirth. 

 But best of all I love to steer For quiet corners not too far, Where the first juleps 

 Prev. P 15/36 next