Followers

May 7, 2010

Rapscallion

- for my friend, Aaron


I knew a young rapscallion
who rode a painted mare
his wry smile widened slightly
as the breeze blew back his hair

His swagger showed of cockiness
this self-sure lad with charm
and rarely did he walk the street
without some young girl’s arm

But soon he felt too restless
and wanted something more
some Indians were calling and
the clown was getting sore

He rode his horse around and ‘round
then sauntered off to sea
to find some new adventures there
and left me sipping tea

For many years he traveled ‘round
and tempted every Fate
he even dueled the devil once
just outside of Hell’s gate

I never knew where he had been
until the other day
a letter said that he was back
and coming home to stay

I met him at a local pub
and we drank many beers
his hair was shorter, grayer too
his face now showed the years

But he is a rapscallion still
with still the sharpest wit
tho’ time has slowed his body some
this rogue, he just won’t quit

So, sirs, warn your fine young daughters
and lock up all of your wine
for neither will be saved from that
rapscallion friend of mine

20 comments:

  1. Loved it, and so will your rogue friend! Excellent rhyming.

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  2. this was really fun eric...kinda like a folk tale....melodic too...nice one shot!

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  3. I love the tale, but I find the typos a bit distracting.
    "showed of" should be "showed off"
    "rouge" should be "rogue"

    Fix those, and the poem will shine even more. Good one shot.

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  4. "His swagger showed of cockiness" means that his cockiness showed in his swagger, not that he was showing off his cockiness.

    Rouge was a typo that spell-check didn't notice because it's a legitimate word. (I fixed it)

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  5. Nice. Reminded me somehow of Longfellow's "The Village Blacksmith" which I had to make my sister memorize for school. I of course ended up learning it too...anyway, this piece had a nice rhythm and great rhyme (I HATE forced rhyme, and this was not). Thanks for stopping by at Life is Good!

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  6. fun and cool write eric - did you read it to aaron?

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  7. Well Claudia, I didn't actually read it to him, but I did e-mail it to him.

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  8. Lock up your daughters and wine cellars, eh? I kinda wanna see this rapscallion friend o'yours. Fun one shot!

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  9. I'll have to find a picture, although I don't have any that are recent.

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  10. This is terrific, Eric. A great story, in rhyme and all with a wonderful rhythm. I really liked it.

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  11. haha! Great Oneshot!

    Lock up the wine you say?
    With devil may care attitude,
    I sip and slurp
    my chardonnay

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  12. Made me smile!!Sure won't want any unfortunate girls to cross your friends,path.HAHA!!Lovely!

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  13. What a fun poem! I think I might have met your friend, or a rapscallion just like him!

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  14. Beautiful... I enjoyed reading it... thanks for sharing...

    ॐ नमः शिवाय
    Om Namah Shivaya
    Twitter: @VerseEveryDay
    Blog: http://shadowdancingwithmind.blogspot.com/

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  15. It read like a song - the bad boy song - that all girls love and then run from. Lovely to read, and fun. For some reason I kept picturing Johnny Depp. Thanks for coming by my site. Gay @beachanny

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  16. Ha ha, that is a fun poem. Who wouldn;t want to be a rapscallion? That poem reminded me of Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the CArribean.

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  17. Loved it.. it was like a short story in some ways. great shot~~`

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  18. oh i love this. why is it that i wanna meet all your friends?!
    LOVE the word rapscallion... yay!

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  19. I don't have daughters to lock up, but the wine cellar is already with a chain :) Nice one Eric!

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