‘Twas a clement summer night and a crowd formed over there
Which had highly filled Bruno’s bar-room on the corner square
And blasting songs and buzzing stories came through the open door
I crept gently on the russet chocolate wooden floor
“Where did you came man?” asked Leo, “Had the wind blew you in?”
They chuckled whilst I scowled and said, “I want some rum, whiskey or gin.”
Bruno grinned mockingly.“Here Leo sic him, if your stomach’s equal to the work.”
Then Leo elbowed me,“What happened to you? You’re as filthy as a Turk.”
They don’t know the untold story of my stoical grace.
In fact, I just gave them a hefty smile like I belonged to this place.
“Come, I know you all have muffin hearts, among a good crowd,
To be such a good comrade, please make your Momma proud.”
“I just want a drink, I’m kinda out of funds, you know;
When I had cash to treat the gang, my hands were never slow.”
They laughed. “Whatcha laughin’? Thinking my pocket had never carried a penny?”
One nodded. “I was once fixed and was filled with luxury and boastful money.”
Bruno slid a glass on me. ”Thanks! May God bless you all!”
They gave me a look. “Next time I’d come here and make another call.”
“Can you sing?” A man asked. “No. My singing days are past.”
I cleared my throat. “My voice was cracked, and my lungs are going fast.”
“Bruno, please give me another glass, and I’ll let you see what I do.”
They went curious. “I’d tell you a story and a fact, I promise you.”
“Ya know, I was ever a decent man, unlike what you think.”
A man snorted. “But I really was, just a while ago. But first,please give me another drink.”
Leo grinned at me,“Fill him up Bruno, I want to put some life in this frame.”
I said to them, “Such little drinks to a bum like me are miserably tame.”
Bruno laughed. “Here that’s the scheme and a corking whiskey too!”
I joined in, “Well this is such luck! I say, master all my best regards are onto you!”
“You’ve treated me really good. And I’d like to tell you all how,
I came up to be filthy as what you see before you now.”
I began to tell. “Once I was a man, with muscle, fame, and health.”
“And I ought to have a considerable unlimited wealth.”
“I was a great painter. Not on daubed on bricks and wood.”
They went silent. “I was an artist, and was paid pretty good.”
I continued. “I was working hard on my canvas and was bidding fair to rise.”
“For gradually I saw the star of fame before my own naked eyes.”
“I made a picture, perhaps you’ve seen, ‘tis called the ‘Grace of Fame.’”
I grinned.“It brought me another fifteen pounds and added pros to my name.”
“And I met a lady, and now here’s the funny part.”
“With eyes that petrified my brain, and sunk into my heart.”
I snapped at them. “Why don’t you laugh? That the filthy man you see,
Could ever love a lady and expect her love for me;
But ‘twas so, after a month or two her smiles were freely given;
And when her loving lips touched mine it’s like I was brought to heaven.”
“Did you ever see a lady for whom your soul you’d give,
With a form like the Milo Venus, too beautiful to live.”
They all dropped their jaws. “She has this gold chestnut hair.”
“If so ‘twas she, for there was never another half so fair.”
None of them said a word, they were listening to every syllable I speak.
I didn’t know that our conversation could reach this one sided thick.
“I was working on portrait, one afternoon in May.”
“Of a faired haired man, a friend of mine, who lives along the way.”
“And Veniezze admired him, and much to my surprise;
She told me she liked to know that man that had such dreamy eyes.”
“It didn’t take long to know him, and after the month had flown.”
I paused. “My friend had stolen my darling and was left alone.”
I chuckled. “And here a year of misery had passed above my head;
The diamond I treasured was now rusted and was purely dead.”
“That’s why whisky is my bestfriend, boys. Hey, why I never see you smile?”
They were still looking at me. “Thought you’d be amused and be laughing all the while.”
“Why Leo? What’s the matter? There’s a tear drop escaped your eye.”
I sneered. “Come! Laugh with me, ‘tis only babies and ladies that should cry.”
“Say Bruno, if you can give me another glass, I’ll be surely glad;
And I’ll draw right here the picture of the lady who drove me mad.”
I pointed. “Hand me that chalk you use to mark the football score;
You shall see the Veniezze upon this wooden floor.”
Another glass, and with the chalk, I began to drove my hand
Sketching a face that well might buy the soul of any man.
Then, as I scribbled another stroke upon the full perfect head
I felt my chest full of pang of agony-I shrieked and fell on the wooden floor-dead.
