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C J Dennis - The Alternative - 1908
Work rating: Low

If, some day, you should find me, cold and stark -
   If you should stumble o`er my lifeless clay
In some still thoroughfare or public park
                                    And sadly say:
"Alack, and had he lived, as like as not
He`d reigned with Bent!" I should not care a jot.


If I should die in some by-way obscure,
   And you should come across my silent corse
In its last sleep, my spirit would - be sure -
                                    Know no remorse.
`Twere better that I thus had ceased to live
If life with Bent were the alternative.


I say, if I should die, and all alone;
   And, dying thus, escape the wiles of Bent;
O`er my remains I`d have you make no moan,
                                   Nor yet lament.
But let relief be mingled with your woe;
And murmur o`er my clay, "`Twere better so."


Nay, if you came, as in my bier I lay,
   And sald, "Who knows?  If this had not occurred" -
I should arise in my grave-clothes and say,
                                   "Don`t be absurd!"
And, being safely out of Tommy`s reach,
I`d probably get out and make a speech.


I`d tell you, "Better have a monument
   Above my head and, coffined, lie at rest
Than live in some Cabinet with Bent
                                  Upon my chest."
And, having said all that was to he said,
I should continue being very dead.
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