Thomas Hood - Faithless Nelly Gray

Ben Battle was a soldier bold
And used to war's alarms
One day a cannon ball shot of his legs
So he lay down his arms

Now as they bore him off the field
Said he, "Let others shoot
For here I leave my second leg
And the Forty Second Foot

The army surgeons made him limbs,
Said he, "They're only pegs
But there's as wooden members quite,
As represent my legs."

Now Ben he loved a pretty maid,
Her name was Nelly Gray;
So he went to pay her his devours,
When he'd devoured his pay.

But when he called on Nelly Gray
She made him quite a scoff,
And when she saw his wooden legs,
Began to take them off.

"O Nelly Gray! O Nelly Gray!
Is this your love so warm?
The love that loves a scarlet coat,
Should be a little more uniform.

She said, "I loved a soldier once,
For he was blithe and brave,
But I will never love a man,
With both feet in the grave,

Before you had those timber toes
Your love I did allow,
But now , you know, you stand,
Upon another footing now."

"O Nelly Gray! O Nelly Gray!
For all your jeering speeches,
At duty's call I left my legs
In Badajo's breaches."

"Why then," said she, "you've  lost the feet
Of legs in war's alarms
And now you cannot wear your shoes
Upon your feats of arms."

O false and fickle Nelly Gray
I know why you refuse!
Though I've no feet, some other man,
Is standing in my shoes.

I wish I'd never seen you face,
But now a long farewell,
But you will be my death - alas!
You will not be my Nell."

Now when he went from Nelly Gray,
His heart so heavy got,
And life was such a burden grown
It made him take a knot.

So round about his melancholy neck
A rope he did entwine,
And for a second time in life,
Enlisted in the Line.

One end he tied around a beam,
And then removed his pegs
And as his legs were off, of course,
He was soon off his legs.

And there he hung till he was dead,
As any nail in town,
For though distress had cut him up,
It could not cut him down.

A dozen men sat upon his corpse,
To see why he had died,
And they buried Ben in four-crossroads
With a stake in his inside.