Tomlinson
Adapted by the Poem by Rudyard Kipling
Music arranged by Leslie Fish

Now Tomlinson gave up the ghost
in his house in Berkeley Square
And a spirit came to his bedside
and dragged him by the hair
Till he heard the roar of the Milky way
die down and drone and cease
and they came to the gate within the walls
where Peter holds the keys.
"Stand up, stand up now Thomlinson
and answer loud and high-
The Good that'cha did for the sake of men
before you came to die"
 
"Oh, I had a friend on earth", he said
"who was my preist and guide,
And I know he would answer well for me
if he were at my side."
"Because you strove in neighboor love
it shall be written fair,
But now you wait at heaven's gate
and not in Berkeley Square.
Though we called your friend
from his bed tonight
he could not speak for you-
For the race is run by one and one,
never by two and two"
 
The wind that blows between the worlds-
it cut him like a knife-
So Thomlinson took up the tale
and he spoke of his good in life
"Oh this I've read in a book" he said
"And that was told to me"
"And this I've thought that another man thought
of a prince in Muskovee"
"You've read, you've heard, you've thought -good god-
and the tail is yet to run-
By the worth of the body that once you had
give answer; What have you done?"
 
"Oh this I've felt and this I've guessed
and this I've heard men say,
And this I wrote that another man wrote
of a Carl in Noroway."
"You've read, you've felt, you've guessed -good god-
You've hampered heaven's gate-
We've better fare between the stars
than you lay on our plate.
Get out. Go down to the lord of wrong,
your due is yet to run
And the fate you share with Berkeley Square
Go with you, Thomlinson."
 
So the spirit dragged him by the hair
as sun by sun they fell
Till they came to the rings of evil stars
that rim the mouth of hell.
The first star red with pride and wrath
The second white with pain,
But the third are black with clinkered sin
That cannot burn again.
The wind that blows between the worlds
It chilled him to the bone
And he yearned to the glare of hell mouth there
as he would to his own hearthstone.
 
The devil he sat behind the bars
where the desperate legions drew
And he caught the hurriing Thomlinson
and wouldn't let him through.
"Do you know the price of good pit coal
That I must pay" said he
"That'cha rank yourself so fit for hell
and ask no leave of me?"
"Sit down, sit down upon the slag
and answer loud and high-
The harm you did to the sons of men
before you came to die."
 
"Oh, I had a love on earth" he said
"Who kissed me to my fall-
And if you'd call my love to me
I know she would answer all."
"Oh, that'cha did in love forbid
It shall be written fair,
But now you wait at hell mouth gate
and not in Berkeley Square.
Though she whissiled your love
from her bed tonight
I vow she would not run
For the sin that'cha do by two and two
you must pay for one by one.
 
"Well once I laughed at the power of love,
twice at the grip of the grave
And three times patted my god on the head
-that men might call me brave"
The devil breathed on a branded sole
and set it aside to cool-
"Do you think I'd waiste my coal" he said
"On the hide of a brain-sick fool?
I see no worth in the hob-nailed mirth
or the jolted jest you did
That I sould awaken my gentlemen
who are sleeping three to a grid"
 
"Oh this I've heard..." said Thomlinson
"And that was noise to broad
and this I took from a Belgin book
on the word of a dead French lord."
"You've heard, you've read, you've got good lack
and the tail begins afresh;
Have you sined one sin for the pride of the eye
or sinful lust of the flesh?"
Then Thomlinson, he gripped the bars
and he yammered, "Let me in!
I remember I borrowed my neighboor's wife
to sin a deadly sin!"
 
The devil, he grinned behind the bars
and he banked the fires high-
"Did'ja read that sin in a book?" he said
and Thomlinson said, "Aye.."
The devil, he blew upon his nails
and the little demons ran
and he said, "Go husk this wimpering theif
that comes in the guise of a man.
Go will him out from star to star
and seive his proper worth-
There's sore decline in Adam's line
if this is the spawn of earth."
 
When the demons came back with the tattered thing
like children after play
They said "A sole he got from god
he's bartered clean away.
We've thrashed out a mint of book and print
and a chattering wind for a mind
And many a sole from which he stole
but his own we cannot find.
We've handled him, we've dandled him,
we've sered him to the bone,
But sire if tooth and nail show truth
he has no sole of his own.
 
The devil, he looked at the mangled thing
that prayed to feel the flame
and he thought of holy charity
but he thought of his own good name.
"Now you would haiste my coal to waiste
and sit'cha down to fry-
"Did'ja think of that sin for yourself?" he asked
and Thomlinson said, "Aye."
The devil, he breathed an outward sigh
for his heart from free from care
"You've scarce the sole of a louse," he said
"But the roots of sin are there."
 
"Now for that sin you should come in
If I were lord here alone
But it's sinful pride has rule inside
mightier than my own.
You're neither spirit nor spark" he said
"You neither book nor bruit
So get'cha back to the flesh again
For the sake of man's repute
I'm overlord to Adam's breed
that I should mock your pain-
But see that'cha win to a better sin
before you come back again."
 
"Get out! The hurse is at your door
and the grim black stallions wait.
They carry your clay to the grave today-
Move, or you'll come too late!
Go back to earth with a lip unseeled
Go back with an open eye
And carry this word to the spawn of earth
before they come to die.
That the sins they do by two and two
They must pay for one by one,
And the god you took from a printed book
be with you, Thomlinson.