An American (Howard)

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From a letter to his friend Tevis Clyde Smith, circa December 1928. First published in The Last of the Trunk Och Brev I Urval (2007).

585634An American1928Robert Ervin Howard

Sing of my ancestors!
   Sing of them with pride!
Sing of fair America,
   Green prairies and blue tide!
One was born in County Cork!
   Hail the shamrock green!
(One was named Abraham
   Simeon Levine.)
One held rule in Dundee,
   Friend of the Montrose.
(One sold nuts and apples
   Where the river Tiber flows.)
One drank ale in Devonshire,
   One scaled Lomond's crags.
(One grew up in Warsaw
   And peddled clothes and rags.)
One sailed out from Liverpool,
   Bold and free and glad.
(One lended cash at high
   Rates in Petrograd.)
Och, oi, oi, and hoot mon!
   Gott sie dank go bragh!
Gevald! Be dommed! Diavoli!
   America iss braw!
Shure, its meself thot loves the land,
   Vy shouldn't I? Oi oi!
Some fellow he no lika diss,
   I'm nae you kind o' boy!
Its aiche mon for his ain, py hell!
   A feller got to stand
An' tella people who he iss
   And brag on his own land!
Vun nation unt vun langvitche!
   Oi! And go for business fine
To Michael Israel Malcolmsky
   Gammettio O'Stein.

This work is from the United States and in the public domain because it was not legally published with the permission of the copyright holder before January 1, 2003 and the author died more than 70 years ago. This is a posthumous work and its copyright in certain countries and areas may depend on years since posthumous publication, rather than years since the author's death. Translations or editions published later may be copyrighted.


This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

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