Scruffian Rhymes

Ratatat Dan, the butcher's brat,
Give him a drum and a soldier's hat,
A Stamp and a shilling and half a cup.
We all fall down, but Dan gets up!

***

The cowboy was an Indian.
The princess was a knight.
The pirate and the ninja
Sailed a ship upon a kite.
The ship it had a tree as mast,
The tree it had a house.
The pilot was an astronaut
Who used to be a mouse.
One with his peepers open,
Four on the skive.
One Scruffian, two Scruffian,
Three, four, five!

***

What are Scruffians made of, made of?
What are Scruffians made of?
Knives and chains and elephants' brains
That's what Scruffians are made of.

***

Guinea for a gamin.
Tuppence for a tot.
Thruppence for a thump, sir.
Penny for your thoughts.

***

Girls and boys, come out to play,
The moon in the sky's as bright as day;
Leave yer supper, and leave yer sleep,
And follow the Scruffians into the street.
Come with a whoop, come with a call,
Come with a mischief or not at all.
Up the ladder and down the wall,
A ha'penny roll will serve us all.
You nick milk, and I'll nick flour,
And we'll have a pudding in half an hour.

***

West of sunset, east of dawn
Where the hours fly,
Norther than the Pole Star,
Souther than the sky,
Hidden from the groanhuffs,
Hidden from their God,
Outside, inside,
In the Land of Nod.

***




It's a hard life being a Scruffian, eh?