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I have heard it asserted a dozen times o'er
That a man may be happy in rags;
That a prince is no more in his carriage of four
Than a pauper who tramps on the flags.
As I chance to be neither, I cannot describe
What a prince or a pauper may feel;
I belong to that highly respectable tribe
Known as the shabby genteel.
Too proud for to beg, and too honest to steal,
I know what it is to be wanting a meal;
My tatters and rags I will try and conceal,
I am one of the shabby genteel.
I'm a party, in fact, that has known better days,
But their glory is faded and gone;
I have started in life in a lot of odd ways,
But I've not found a way to get on.
There are only three roads, I'm afraid, that are left,
I will have to beg, borrow or steal;
But I don't quite encourage that notion for theft,
Though I'm awfully shabby genteel.
Too proud for to beg, and too honest to steal,
I know what it is to be wanting a meal;
My tatters and rags I will try and conceal,
I am one of the shabby genteel.
I'm dressed in my best, though I cannot pretend
For my costume is too comme il faut;
You'll observe that my watch has been left with a friend,
My gloves are unfitted for show.
I've got traces of wear on my elbows and knees,
My boots are run down at the heels;
But it's cruel to criticize matters like this
When a man has grown shabby genteel.
Too proud for to beg, and too honest to steal,
I know what it is to be wanting a meal;
My tatters and rags I will try and conceal,
I am one of the shabby genteel.
Still I try to be cheerful in all my distress,
To bear my hard luck like a man;
If I can't have my way as to feeding and dress,
I'll still do the best that I can.
Remember, good people, that fortune today,
With one turn of her treacherous wheel,
Can reduce one of you in the very same way.
To the levels of shabby genteel.
Collected in 1951 from Leo Martin of Trepassey, NL, and published in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA).
From WordNet Search: Comme il faut - becoming; according with custom or propriety.
