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Tim Finnegan’s Wake
by Dr. Thom Dedalus
When God reeled in good auld Tim Finnegan,
And looked into his green Irish peepers,
Said He, “Now, what was I thinkin’?
Poor lad, he ain’t one of the keepers.”
To hell Tim descended without any fear,
To the devil, whom not much is lost on,
Said he, “I’m sure you’ll be comfortable here,
Among all your old friends from South Boston.”
Tim’s jokes night and day caused Satan to swear,
As migraines crept behind blood red eyelids,
“An eternity with you is just too much to bear.
You’re going home to your wife and your nine kids.”
So up pops Tim at his wake from his casket.
“It can’t be,” went a howl from his wife.
When he belched the sea from his own breadbasket,
Said she, “Someone, hand me a knife.”
Now Tim’s fishing off George’s Banks
Catching codfish, haddock and hake.
The happiest folk in town to give thanks,
Is John Hancock for Finnegan’s wake.
Finn’s now a legend among life underwriters,
In Beantown and all over the States.
In him beats the heart of a fighter.
Sad to hear how they increased his rates.
Finn’s tale is best told with a dram of Jameson.
You’re entitled to whatever sense you can make.
Just cause you’re dead, it don’t mean you’re gone.
You may take comfort in Finnegan’s wake.
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David B. Lentz (Bloomsday: The Bostoniad)