Morbidly Humorous
I remembered the following poem this morning after hearing the news about two people shooting eachother in a Toys R Us store on Black Friday. My Dad used to recite this to me when I was a kid. He had similarly learned it from his father. After a little research, I discovered on a British Columbian folklore website, that variations of this poem have been passed down from generation to generation since at least the early 1900's. The poem is called "Two Dead Boys", author unknown.
Early in the morning in the middle of the night
Two dead boys got up to fight
Down on the corner in the middle of the block
In a two story building on a vacant lot
Back to back they faced eachother
Drew their swords and shot eachother
Two deaf policemen heard the noise
They came and killed the two dead boys
posted by Dani | 3:48 PM
2 Comments:
This is Dad's answer:
Early in the morning in the middle of the night, two dead boys got up to fight.
Lived on the corner in the middle of the block in a story building above a vacant lot.
Back to back they faced each other
Drew their swords and shot one another.
Two deaf policemen heard the noice and came and killed the two dead boys.
Not sure, but he thinks he got it from his Dad. Yes, I guess it IS morbidly humorous!
Ah, so I changed it a little from his version. From the sounds of it, in addition to there being different versions of what I/Dad wrote, there are also several additional verses that have been passed around over the years.
The poem was described as a "Ballad of Impossibilities" on the British Columbia folklore website I found.
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