Explore "Mr Waldo's Song" by Dylan Thomas on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
In Pembroke City when I was young / I lived by the Castle Keep / Sixpence a week was my wages / For working for the chimbley sweep.
Six cold pennies he gave me / Not a farthing more or less / And all the fare I could afford / Was parsnip gin and watercress.
I did not need a knife and fork
Or a bib up to my chin / To dine on a dish of watercress / And a jug of parsnip gin.
Did you ever hear a growing boy / To live so cruel cheap
On grub that has no flesh and bones / And liquor that makes you weep?
Sweep sweep chimbley sweep / I wept through Pembroke City / Poor and barefoot in the snow
Till a kind young woman took pity.
Poor little chimbley sweep she said / Black as the ace of spades / Oh nobody's swept my chimbley / Since my husband went his ways.
Come and sweep my chimbley / Come and sweep my chimbley / She sighed to me with a blush / Come and sweep my chimbley / Come and sweep my chimbley
Bring along your chimbley brush!