a foggy day

by horace p sternwall

as i walking to london town i met a hangman and a clown the clown was dressed in somber style the hangman wore a happy smile i asked the hangman for a dime he paused, and took his own sweet time who are you, he cheerfully asked that i should favor you with cash? i am a creature, sad and forlorn who never requested to be born around my neck are no silk scarves all i wish is not to starve the hangman nodded and replied you have opened my eyes wide i will wipe the smile from off my face and make the world a better place with that the hangman disappeared as the clouds above me leered the clown and i were left alone and he was looking at his phone whatever he saw there did not seem to wake him from his dolourous dream i left him and went on my way what was his fate, i can not say on a foggy day in london town a beggar put a payment down on a castle beside an apple tree o how i wish that it were me the beggar, the castle, or the tree i would be any of the three the beggar sleeps within the walls and from the tree an apple falls