Poor Man's Plea ("The Bells O'er Old London Town")

From the perspective of a poor man around the time of the Great Plague and Great Fire of London. Aspects of the Industrial revolution era also incorporated, though the language suggests earlier times. The "bells o'er old London Town" is a reference to the

O, Death with thine eyes of ashen grey
‘Tis to thee I pleads
I ‘aven’t never wronged thee
So when ye comes a-knockin’ at me door to-night
I prithee,
Spare me,
Just this once,
So that I may wake to-morrow
And still ‘ear the bells
O’er old London town.
O, Plague with thy shivers and fevers abound
Why torment ye me?
Go ravage another,
Those up top, methinks,
Who sit and get fat
From us toilin’ beneath.
Yet ‘tis we ‘o get the beatin’.
I prithee, spare me
Just this once
So I may wake to-morrow
And still ’ear the bells
O’er old London town.
O, Fire with thy demons of incandescent red
Come not to my door
For I’ve nothin’ for ye to burn.
The clothes on me back,
That’s all I’ve got to show for ye.
Take thy devastation elsewhere
Where perhaps there are satins and riches
Upon which to snack.
But I prithee, spare me
So that I may wake to-morrow
And still ‘ear the bells
O’er old London town.
O, famine with thy pains of deprivation,
What ‘ave I done
To deserve thy wrath?
Take thy stomachaches elsewhere
Where perhaps there are those
‘O ‘ave stolen from us,
Taken ‘eartless advantage of me ‘ard-workin’.
But I prithee,
Spare me,
So that I may wake to-morrow,
And still ‘ear the bells
O’er old London town.
O, Poverty with all thine anguish and debts
Why trouble ye me?
I’s an honest bloke, I am, truly.
What did I
So that ye would trouble me so?
Well, leave me ‘ome,
For I ‘aven’t time for ye no more.
Oh, why leavest thou not??
I prithee,
Spare me,
Come not to me door,
For I ‘aven’t ever wronged ye.
Spare me, says I!
So that I may wake to-morrrow
And still ‘ear the bells
O’er old London town.


 

Author's Note

It's written in a sort of old-fashioned Cockney dialect, as the speaker is from the Bow bells area.