Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE 'OTHER MAN', by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE 'OTHER MAN', by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: If every man would do the things the 'other man' should do
Last Line: "if every man would think himself to be the ""other man."
Subject(s): Brotherhood; Human Behavior; Conduct Of Life; Human Nature


If every man would do the things the "other man" should do,
Attack the hoodlum, catch the thief, and watch the rascal crew,
We'd have a perfect city, and a perfect country, too,
A sober land, an honest land, where men are good and true;
There'd be no more misgovernment nor graft nor mobs to rue,
If every man would do the things the "other man" should do.

If we forgot the talents by the "other man" possessed,
And never thought to envy him the feathers of his nest,
And only thought to grasp from him this chance to do the best,
To dare the deed, and meet the need and stand the fiercer test,
We'd have a model country, north, south, and east and west,
If we forgot the talents by the "other man" possessed.

If every man would think himself to be the "other man,"
Become his own reformer on a self-respecting plan,
And calmly, boldly, set himself to do the thing he can,
Nor wait to find some other chap to push into the van,
The world's entire iniquity we'd put beneath the ban,
If every man would think himself to be the "other man."





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