Two poems, not mine

 

 

 

A few good thoughts from writers of the 19th century

 

 

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[Lines]

 

Ah! what a great man King Midas was,

His like we shall ne’er behold !

For whatever his majesty deign’d to touch,

That instant it turned to gold.

 

But oh, the times are altered quite,

Since the days of that famous King ;

For touch a great man with gold, and now

He’ll turn into anything!

 

If you fee a lawyer, he’ll swear that black

Is black, with all his might!

But double the fee and the chances are,

He’ll swear that black is white!

 

Theatrical manager Alfred Bunn, composed 1830s

 

 

 

 

The Land of ‘Pretty Soon’

 

I know of a land where the streets are paved

With the things which we meant to achieve;

It is walled with the money we meant to have saved

And the pleasures for which we grieve.

The kind words unspoken, the promises broken,

And many a coveted boon,

Are stowed away there in that land somewhere—

The land of ‘Pretty Soon.’

 

There are uncut jewels of possible fame

Lying about in the dust,

And many a noble and lofty aim

Covered with mould and rust.

And oh this place, while it seems so near,

Is farther away than the moon;

Though our purpose is fair, yet we never get there—

To the ‘Land of ‘Pretty Soon.’

 

The road that leads to that mystic land

Is strewn with pitiful wrecks,

And the ships that have sailed for its shining strand

Bear skeletons on their decks.

It is farther at noon than it was at dawn,

And farther at night than at noon;

Oh let us beware of that land down there—

The land of ‘Pretty Soon.’

 

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, 1899

 

 

 

 

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The Caretaker

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(2024, Stephanie Foster)