University of Virginia Library


77

I Wonder How This Is?

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[Written for The Educator.]

I'm not a bad fellow, but just “kinder midlin,”
Not a devil incarnate, nor saint dressed in white;
But “'bout half and half,” with a sprinklin' of devil,
And enough of the angel to keep me near right.
Yet often I wander, my feet get entangled,
'Mid briers and quicksands too often I stray,
And often I wonder can I reach the pathway,
As sinful and crooked I oft lose my way.
Yet I went to a funeral, the chap was a “tough one,”
A gambler, a drunkard, he cheated and lied,
A deeply dyed rascal, but gave big donations,
So the preacher just fixed him all right when he died.
I went to the graveyard, and looked on the tombstones;
What lovely inscriptions! all praising the dead;
Everyone there was good, everyone had reached heaven,
I wondered where all the bad fellows were laid.
But thus goes the world, if you've friends or have money,
You are certain of heaven, your sins plastered o'er;
But the poor, seedy devils, who have empty pockets,
Nobody knows if you're in heaven or no.
Perhaps they are right, and maybe up yonder,
The wonder will be, not that we were bad,
But as good as we have been, 'mid all of the weakness,
And all the temptations that each must have had.
But we'll find lots of folks we thought were in heaven
Have missed it, while others, assigned down below,
Are exalted, for there full justice is given;
By the heart God judges the rich and the poor.