| |
| I wished I’d took the ring, not the Victrola. |
| You get so tired of records, hearin’ an’ hearin’ ’em, |
| And when a person don’t have much to spend |
| They feel they shouldn’t ought to be so wasteful. |
| And then these warm nights makes it slow inside, |
| And sittin’s lovely down there by the lake |
| Where him and me would always use ta go. |
| He thought the Vic’d make it easier |
| Without him; and it did at first. I’d play |
| Some jazz-band music and I’d almost feel |
| His arms around me, dancin’; after that |
| I’d turn out all the lights, and set there quiet |
| Whiles Alma Gluck was singin’ “Home, Sweet Home”, |
| And almost know his hand was strokin’ my hand. |
| “If I was you, I’d take the Vic,” he says, |
| “It’s somethin’ you can use; you can’t a ring. |
| Wisht I had ways ta make a record for you, |
| So’s I could be right with you, even though |
| Uncle Sam had me”… Now I’m glad he didn’t; |
| It would be lots too much like seein’ ghosts |
| Now that I’m sure he never won’t come back…. |
| Oh, God! I don’t see how I ever stand it! |
| He was so big and strong! He was a darb! |
| The swellest dresser, with them nifty shirts |
| That fold down, and them lovely nobby shoes, |
| And always all his clothes would be one color, |
| Like green socks with green ties, and a green hat, |
| And everything…. We never had no words |
| Or hardly none…. |
| And now to think that mouth |
| I useta kiss is bitin’ into dirt, |
| And through them curls I useta smooth a bullet |
| Has went…. |
| I wisht it would of killed me, too…. |
| Oh, well… about the Vic…. I guess I’ll sell it |
| And get a small ring anyways. (I won’t |
| Get but half as good a one as if |
| He spent it all on that when he first ast me.) |
| It don’t seem right to play jazz tunes no more |
| With him gone. And it ain’t a likely chanst |
| I’d find nobody ever else again |
| Would suit me, or I’d suit. And so a little |
| Quarter of a carat, maybe, but a real one |
| That could sparkle, sometimes, and remember |
| The home I should of had.… |
| And still, you know, |
| The Vic was his idear, and so… |
| I wonder…. |
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