Jack

Ward Hays 1952 (Memphis, Tn)



On Blackfriar's Bridge
The chippies crawl
A penny for your pleasure
One and all

White Chapel wenches
Run in fear
Any distance
Is still too near

Once with a pox
Posies color the rot
In death, it matters not
What you've got

Blessed are those
Without want
Blessed be he that has
Cursed be he that don't

Where law and order was mostly nil
He practiced death with a surgeon's skill
From a heart that didn't feel
Society paid the bill

Some pointed at the royal line
They were treated quite unkind
Smart ones spoke not a line
Acting like they were blind

A royal carriage fled the scene
Through foggy London streets unseen
Catching him was a waste to start
He freed the world of soiled tarts

No one seemed to really care
What's right is right, what's fair is fair
They hadn't any business there
No word nor whisper was ever shared

I've told my story, I've told it well
No doubt Jack came straight from hell
Many men have made mistakes
In the end, you get what you take

And life just seems to hurry on
We can't replace the time that's gone
Or remember people we have known
And in the end, we're all alone

Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
Not one of them will confess
No one's responsible for the deaths
And Jack goes laughing home
And Jack goes laughing home

About this poem

Who was Jack?

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Written on May 05, 2014

Submitted by lubigibbons on January 03, 2022

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:18 min read
18

Quick analysis:

Scheme xaxa xbxb xccc xxxx ddxd efef ggxx hhhx iixx xxjj xxxKK
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 1,260
Words 248
Stanzas 11
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5

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    "Jack" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/117037/jack>.

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