The poem
"Here the hangman stops his cart: Now the best of friends must part. Fare you well, for ill fare I: Live, lads, and I will die.
"Oh, at home had I but stayed 'Prenticed to my father's trade, Had I stuck to plane and adze, I had not been lost, my lads.
"Then I might have built perhaps Gallows-trees for other chaps, Never dangled on my own, Had I left but ill alone.
"Now, you see, they hang me high, And the people passing by Stop to shake their fists and curse; So 'tis come from ill to worse.
"Here hang I, and right and left Two poor fellows hang for theft: All the same's the luck we prove, Though the midmost hangs for love.
"Comrades all, that stand and gaze, Walk henceforth in other ways; See my neck and save your own: Comrades all, leave ill alone.
"Make some day a decent end, Shrewder fellows than your friend. Fare you well, for ill fare I: Live lads, and I will die."