Jimmy Crilly Poem by Joe Hughes

Jimmy Crilly, little brat,
Spits out vomit - dirty rat.
Jimmy Crilly's father's out -
Jimmy Crilly's head to clout!

Jimmy Crilly's got a mother,
Got two sisters and a brother.
Parents shout in drunken sprawls,
Baby's crying in the hall!

Jimmy's door is ever open,
Through the winter and the autumn.
Goes to school one day in five,
Lucky just to be alive!

Jimmy doesn't go to Mass,
No religion, got no class.
Jimmy likes to hang about -
Keep away from father's clouts.

Jimmy won't play games or cards,
He likes to steal from fancy cars.
Jimmy's just collecting scars -
Anticipating prison bars.

Jimmy Crilly, little brat,
Spits out vomit - dirty rat.
Jimmy Crilly's only eight,
What of Jimmy Crilly's fate?