The Criminal

Here is a tale for all who wish to listen: There was a thief who, in his cut-throat quarter, Was hailed as chief; he had a way of barter, Persuasion, masked, behind a weapon's glisten, That made it cockrow with each good man's riches. At last he joined the Brotherhood of Murder, And rose in his profession; lived a herder Of crime in some dark tavern of the ditches. There was a war. He went. Became a gunner. And slew, as soldiers should, his many a hundred, In authorized and most professional manner. Here he advanced again. Was starred a oner. Was captained, pensioned, and nobody wondered; And lived and died respectable as a tanner.