The Ballad of Edward and Johnny

The Ballad of Edward and Johnny

Two boys they went to work from school,
One was younger, one was older,
Though they would tease and play the fool
They always stood shoulder to shoulder.

Whatever those young men would do,
They would always do together,
And best of all that either knew
Was books and beer and balmy weather.

The times they passed, as pass they will,
Life took one one way, one another;
There was a bond that bound them still,
Less than a wife, more than a brother.

The things that two grown men must do
They could no longer do together,
And work was hard, the chances few
For books and beer and balmy weather.

Then Edward died. Old Johnny went
To church and found it cold and cheerless;
He wept for those lost times they’d spent
When they were young and life was careless.

Though Edward in the coffin lay
Something still tied two together:
Love of friends, and every day
Of books and beer and balmy weather.