Our Lonely Love-Sick Gob
This poem was not written by Kipling, nor has it passed the scrutiny of our village schoolmaster, but what it lacks in rhetoric is made up in punch. “I made this up about a girl that turned me down over a shipmate of mine, and will thank you to publish it for the benefit of other love-sick gobs,” writes the author, a sailor at the Philadelphia naval station.
Now, listen shipmates, listen,
And I shall tell to you,
How once I met a girlie,
Just like other fellows do.
I loved her, yes, I loved her,
And I know she knew it well,
But I tipped her to a shipmate,
And he held her in his spell.
He enraptured her with stories,
And he said I was not true,
When next I met my loved one,
She said, “I’m through with you.”
I’ve told you all I know, boys,
Or all I care to tell,
So if you love a girlie, Gobs,
Have your shipmates go tu’ell.
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