A GENTLEMAN HERE IN THE SOUTH

A humorous poem about a southern cad

A GENTLEMAN HERE IN THE SOUTH

By R. A. Merritt

You know I'm astute fellow my wisdom has to much to admire

I've seduced all the ladies and with their domestics conspired

I've chiseled my business partners I've laid with my friend's sweet wife

A frisky young lady who thinks she's the center of life

And the law is always snooping and low lurking about

'Cos I've got a terrible reputation for a gentleman here in the south

Oh I'm quite hospitable charm fits me like a glove

I'm always eager to earn a dollar and tempt some young thing to love

And best she be a rich girl yes a rich girl  best to be

For the rich girls are the ones who best appeal to me

But they don't dare trust anything that comes from my mouth 

For a man they've grown suspicious of as a gentleman here in the south

And so I always have a ticket tucked in my coat prepared

To allow me passage to flee this town and most assuredly spared

For if they don't lynch me I'll certainly be put on a rail

And driven out of town like someone bound down to hell

They don't like having such people walking the streets and about

Especially someone they are suspicious of as gentleman here in south

A most pathetic gentleman here in the splendifferous south

Author's Note

A poem about a certain type of southerner