'But the country of my childhood
Is the best that man may know,
Oh didêmi also phêmi,
Zôê mou sas agapô!'
Straight rose a German and remarked
'Vot of die Vaterland?
Ach Himmel! Unberüfen!
And the luffly German band?
'Gif me some Gotterdammerung,
And nuddings more I need,
But ewigkeit and sauerkraut
And niebelungenlied!'
'Nonsense!' exclaimed an Englishman.
('I surely ought to know!)
Old England is the only place
Where any man should go!
'Show me the something furriner
Who such a fact denies,
And, if I can't convince 'im,
I can black 'is bloomin' eyes!'
Then entered in the potman,
And pointed to the door;
'Outside,' said he, 'is where you'll go,
If I have any more!'
. . . . .
It was six friendly working men,
Brimming with 'twos' of gin,
Who crept from out the tavern,
As the Dawn came creeping in.