The City Of Damn-His Soul



He was nursed and cursed : he lied and died,

In the City of Damn-His-Soul ;
He was mothered and smothered in the slimy tide

Of the City of Damn-His-Soul,
And, strange to say, there were preachers there,

And temples, many and broad ;
But he never had taught him the simplest prayer,

Or had heard of the word of God !
For nobody cared for the poor galoot,

And fewer had cared for his soul
For they said that Hell had a new recruit

From the City of Damn-His-Soul.

But the angels they waited, outside the gate

Of the City of Damn His Soul ;
And they bore him away, with step elate,

To the City of Save-His-Soul ;
And the angels they put him to school How odd !

And they taught him the A B C
Of the Love, and the Wisdom, and Truth of God.

On the winterless side of the sea
He played and was taught, with the angels for chums,

Where the rivers of Paradise roll :
Ah, me, what a change from the bums and the slums

Of the City of Damn-His-Soul !

He has learned a trade in that wonderful place
In the City of Save-His-Soul ;

All traces of sin have been wiped from his face

In the college of Save-His-Soul ;

They Ve taught him to work : they Ve taught him to
pray:

They 've taught him to read and write ;
He works in the gardens of God, by day,

And learns new lessons by night.
The poor lone youth, who had carried the hod

For the devil's designs below,
Is a power and a prince in the realms of God

And I 'm glad that these things are so.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:24 min read
70

Quick analysis:

Scheme a ba Bc xc da bx b e be bd fd fg bg B hb h b xi ji ja kd k
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,436
Words 281
Stanzas 22
Stanza Lengths 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1

Robert Kirkland Kernighan

Robert Kirkland Kernighan was a Canadian poet, journalist, and farmer. Born at Rushdale Farm, Rockton, Ontario, he apprenticed as a journalist on the Hamilton Spectator staff. In about 1876 the paper printed his first poetry. Kernighan lived in Western Canada for a while working for the Winnipeg Sun. Short thereafter returned to Hamilton to farm. He worked exclusively for many years for the Toronto Telegram writing a column titled, "The Khan's Corner." The nickname "Khan" was given to him by a young French-Canadian woman who could not pronounce his name. It was the opinion of Sir John A. Macdonald that if Canada ever went to war the soldiers would march to battle singing Kernighan's poem "The Men of the Northern Zone". In an article reviewing personalities from Hamilton history, Kernighan was praised as a "...poet and humourist with a rare gift of sympathetic portrayal of rural Canadian life." The Khan appeared in Toronto at old Albert Hall on October 20th, 1885 to a packed house. Toronto's Daily Amusement Record reported: "Albert Hall was jammed to the door, and many had to stand. This, more than anything else, is a substantial compliment to Mr. Kernighan, as the people of Toronto are not in the habit of throwing away fifty-cent pieces 'just for fun'." Kernighan's lecture was attended by notable local personalities who were described in the Amusement Record as the "Fourth Estate". The reviewer concluded: "The lecture was a masterpiece of native eloquence, humour and pathos, and the only fault found was that it was too short." more…

All Robert Kirkland Kernighan poems | Robert Kirkland Kernighan Books

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