If I Should Die

The Poem
By Benjamin Franklin King

If I should die to-night  And you should come to my cold corpse and say,

Weeping and heartsick o'er my lifeless clay  

If I should die to-night,  And you should come in deepest grief and woe

And say: "Here's that ten dollars that I owe,"

 I might arise in my large white cravat  And say, "What's that?"

If I should die to-night  And you should come to my cold corpse and kneel,

 Clasping my bier to show the grief you feel,  I say ,

if I should die to-night  And you should come to me,

<span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,sans-serif;">and there and then  <span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,sans-serif;">Just even hint 'bout payin' me that ten <span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,sans-serif;">,

<span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,sans-serif;">I might arise the while,

<span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,sans-serif;">But I'd drop dead again.

<span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,sans-serif;">Meaning of the poem
<span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,sans-serif;">If I should die ................. What's that?

If I will die tonight, then you will come to my dead body, by weeping and heartsick. You will be in sorrow and you will say that here is the 10 dollars that you owe me. I would wake up or be alive again and say, 'what's that', which means what is for that and you don't need to return it.

If I should die ..................... drop dead again.

If I will die tonight than you will come to my cold body and kneel. You will hold my bier and you will show the pain you feel. I will say, that if I'm gonna die tonight, then you will come to me, there and then just for paying the 10 dollars, the poet means so say that his friend is comming to him just to pay back the money, and as if the poet doesn't matter to his friend's life, he also wants to say that if yes, his friend have came just to pay back, the he (the poet) would rise seeing that his friend just cares about the money he owes and nothing else, the poet would drop dead again, because of the pain. The poet would drop dead because his friend didn't came to meet him for the last time but to return the money he owes.