[Skip Navigation]

Poetry Archives

A continuing selection of classic and contemporary poems.

Penelope

Bret Harte

So you’ve kem ‘yer agen,
  And one answer won’t do?
Well, of all the derned men
  That I’ve struck, it is you.
O Sal! ‘yer’s that derned fool from Simpson’s, cavortin’ round ‘yer
   in the dew.

Kem in, ef you WILL.
  Thar,—quit!  Take a cheer.
Not that; you can’t fill
  Them theer cushings this year,—
For that cheer was my old man’s, Joe Simpson, and they don’t make
   such men about ‘yer.

He was tall, was my Jack,
  And as strong as a tree.
Thar’s his gun on the rack,—
  Jest you heft it, and see.
And YOU come a courtin’ his widder!  Lord! where can that critter,
   Sal, be!

You’d fill my Jack’s place?
  And a man of your size,—
With no baird to his face,
  Nor a snap to his eyes,
And nary—Sho! thar! I was foolin’,—I was, Joe, for sartain,—don’t
   rise.

Sit down.  Law! why, sho!
  I’m as weak as a gal.
Sal!  Don’t you go, Joe,
  Or I’ll faint,—sure, I shall.
Sit down,—ANYWHEER, where you like, Joe,—in that cheer, if you
   choose,—Lord! where’s Sal?
Online text © 1998-2008 Poetry X. All rights reserved.
From Complete Poetical Works | Houghton, Mifflin & Company, 1902
Add Keyword Tags

Separate each tag with a space. You may add as many tags as you'd like to each poem.

What are tags?
Tags, sometimes called “folksonomies,” are words that describe or categorize a poem, like “20th century modernism” or “Italian sonnet”. Tags can help you find poems that have something in common, based on how other people classify them.

More Info

This site will work and look better in a browser that supports web standards, but it is accessible to any Internet device.