Robert William Service - Room Ghost

Though elegance I ill afford, <br />My living-room is green and gold; <br />The former tenant was a lord <br />Who died of drinking, I am told. <br />I fancy he was rather bored; <br />I don't think he was over old. <br /> <br />And where on books I dully browse, <br />And gaze in rapture at the sea, <br />My predecessor world carouse <br />In lavish infidelity <br />With ladies amoral as cows; <br />But interesting, you'll agree. <br /> <br />I'm dull as water in a ditch, <br />Making these silly bits of rhyme; <br />My Lord, I'm told, was passing rich <br />And must have has a lovely time; <br />With champagne and a pretty bitch <br />No need to heed the church-bell chime. <br /> <br />My living-room is marble floored, <br />And on its ceiling cherubs play; <br />But like my lord I'm often bored <br />And put my sullen books away; <br />And though my people say I snored, <br />I dream of indiscretions gay. <br /> <br />And often in the niggard night, <br />When sweet sleep I fail to drown, <br />I seem to see that noble sprite <br />In monocle and dressing-gown: <br />A glass of brandy to the light <br />He holds and winks and drinks it down. <br /> <br />When life's so beautifully planned, <br />Dear reader, can you understand <br />Why men should die be their own hand?<br /><br />Robert William Service<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/room-ghost/