" I HAVE been everywhere, "
Said Calvin Brice,
" In battle and affair,
Society and snare:
If there's anything up there, —
Purgatory, Paradise, —
I would like to go and see
For curiosity! "
Said Calvin Brice.

The spirits in the air
Heard Calvin Brice;
They knew how he would dare,
So seeing and so fair,
Country-hearted, debonnaire ,
And with never avarice:
" He shall have his wish and come!
Play the dead-march on the drum
For Calvin Brice! "

From the dead line, sans care,
Stepp'd Calvin Brice,
Topographer to dare
And with gods to pay his share,
Or with apparitions fare, —
However fall the dice.
He has gone beyond the goal,
The pioneering soul
Of Calvin Brice.

And if they keep him there, —
Our Calvin Brice —
With his Absalom hair,
And his nose large and square,
'Tis because that everywhere,
He is without artifice.
Hell and heaven must delight
In a soul so apposite,
As Calvin Brice.