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Mary's Ghost. - A Pathetic Ballad.

By Thomas Hood

Topics: classic

'Twas in the middle of the night,     To sleep young William tried,     When Mary's ghost came stealing in,     And stood at his bedside.     O William dear! O William dear!     My rest eternal ceases;     Alas! my everlasting peace     Is broken into pieces.     I thought the last of all my cares     Would end with my last minute;     But though I went to my long home,     I didn't stay long in it.     The body-snatchers they have come,     And made a snatch at me;     It's very hard them kind of men     Won't let a body be!     You thought that I was buried deep,     Quite decent-like and chary,     But from her grave in Mary-bone,     They've come and boned your Mary.     The arm that used to take your arm     Is took to Dr. Vyse;     And both my legs are gone to walk     The hospital at Guy's.     I vowed that you should have my hand,     But fate gives us denial;     You'll find it there, at Dr. Bell's,     In spirits and a phial.     As for my feet, the little feet     You used to call so pretty,     There's one, I know, in Bedford Row,     The t'other's in the City.     I can't tell where my head is gone,     But Doctor Carpue can;     As for my trunk, it's all packed up     To go by Pickford's van.     I wish you'd go to Mr. P.     And save me such a ride;     I don't half like the outside place,     They've took for my inside.     The cock it crows - I must be gone!     My William, we must part!     But I'll be yours in death, altho'     Sir Astley has my heart.     Don't go to weep upon my grave,     And think that there I be;     They haven't left an atom there     Of my anatomie.

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"'Twas in the middle of the night,..."

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Author:Thomas Hood

"'Twas in the middle of the night,..." by Thomas Hood

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Thomas Hood

About Thomas Hood

Thomas Hood (1799–1845) was an English poet and humorist whose social protest poems "The Song of the Shirt" and "The Bridge of Sighs" drew attention to the plight of the poor. He was also a master of comic verse and wordplay.

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