no bail

by horace p sternwall

the mayor would not go my bail so i am here to tell my tale and will not let it rest until i have done my best roses are red, elephants are gray everybody should have their say flowers bloom in howling blizzards human beings are all really lizards violets are blue, champagne is bubbly old philosophers faces are stubbly if you never learn to stay out of the rain you will get wet, again and again grass is green, hay is yellow my old dog sam was a jolly good fellow he scratched the surface of the earth and played the fool for all he was worth noses are purple, mud is brown every time i go to town folks gather round and call me names but my mama loved me all the same old man mose is mighty rich he carries an old curved hickory switch the devil gave him as a gift when mose stopped one night and gave him a lift just a feller walking down the road with a cat, a rattlesnake, and a toad the rain was falling, the sky was dark and he had to find noah’s ark someone must give us all a ride or we will be fit to be tied to the tree from which old mother eve picked an apple, i do believe such is the substance of my verse stranger, i ask you, which is worse a man who will offer you a drink or one who always stops and thinks?