Gloomy Words

I've been reading the very occasional piece of Victorian poetry recently, and I like the grim stuff the best. Here's In the Great Metropolis by Arthur Hugh Clough:

IN THE GREAT METROPOLIS

Each for himself is still the rule
We learn it when we go to school
The devil take the hindmost, O!

And when the schoolboys grow to men,
In life they learn it o’er again
The devil take the hindmost, O!

For in the church, and at the bar,
On ’Change, at court, where’er they are,
The devil takes the hindmost, O!

Husband for husband, wife for wife,
Are careful that in married life
The devil takes the hindmost, O!

From youth to age, whate’er the game,
The unvarying practice is the same
The devil take the hindmost, O!

And after death, we do not know,
But scarce can doubt, where’er we go,
The devil takes the hindmost, O!
Ti rol de rol, ti rol de ro,
The devil take the hindmost, O!