After lending him your hand,
First to break an honest spirit,
Then to steal away my land?
Must a man who loves a woman
Like a devil's imp be driven
Through the tortures of damnation
For a single glimpse of heaven?
Tell me where the cur is hiding--
I've no wish to hurt his bride,
But I'll braid a twelve-foot bull whip
From his dirty, yaller hide!


37

"Speak to me and tell me, woman,
How the God in heaven above
Starts the fires of hell a-burning
From a spark of human love;
Why He ever made a woman
Who could play a fickle part;
Why He ever made a fellow
With his soul tied to his heart;
Why He made life just a gamble--
I can't talk the way I feel--
In the game that I've been playing,
You know this ain't no square deal!
I will go away and leave you,
But 'twould kind o' ease the pain
If you'd only tell me, Nancy--