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(WESTERN VERSION)
HERE come I to my own again, | |
| Fed, forgiven and known again, | |
| Claimed by bone of my bone again | |
| And cheered by flesh of my flesh. | |
| The fatted calf is dressed for me, | 5 |
| But the husks have greater zest for me, | |
| I think my pigs will be best for me, | |
| So I’m off to the Yards afresh. | |
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| I never was very refined, you see, | |
| (And it weighs on my brother’s mind, you see) | 10 |
| But there’s no reproach among swine, d’you see, | |
| For being a bit of a swine. | |
| So I’m off with wallet and staff to eat | |
| The bread that is three parts chaff to wheat, | |
| But glory be!—there’s a laugh to it, | 15 |
| Which isn’t the case when we dine. | |
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| My father glooms and advises me, | |
| My brother sulks and despises me, | |
| And Mother catechises me | |
| Till I want to go out and swear. | 20 |
| And, in spite of the butler’s gravity, | |
| I know that the servants have it I | |
| Am a monster of moral depravity, | |
| And I’m damned if I think it’s fair! | |
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| I wasted my substance, I know I did, | 25 |
| On riotous living, so I did, | |
| But there’s nothing on record to show I did | |
| More than my betters have done. | |
| They talk of the money I spent out there— | |
| They hint at the pace that I went out there— | 30 |
| But they all forget I was sent out there | |
| Alone as a rich man’s son. | |
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| So I was a mark for plunder at once, | |
| And lost my cash (can you wonder?) at once, | |
| But I didn’t give up and knock under at once, | 35 |
| I worked in the Yards, for a spell, | |
| Where I spent my nights and my days with hogs, | |
| And shared their milk and maize with hogs, | |
| Till, I guess, I have learned what pays with hogs | |
| And—I have that knowledge to sell! | 40 |
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| So back I go to my job again, | |
| Not so easy to rob again, | |
| Or quite so ready to sob again | |
| On any neck that’s around. | |
| I’m leaving, Pater. Good-bye to you! | 45 |
| God bless you, Mater! I’ll write to you…. | |
| I wouldn’t be impolite to you, | |
| But, Brother, you are a hound! | |
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