Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HORSESHOES, by DOUGLAS MALLOCH


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HORSESHOES, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Pitchin' horseshoes as we be
Last Line: "give me strength, o lord, to lose!'"
Subject(s): Horseshoes


"Pitchin' horseshoes as we be
Has its own philosophy
Same as life," he says to me.
"Not," says I to him, "its own --
Every horseshoe ever thrown
Somethin' like it I have known."

Then we started. He got one,
And he says, "This sure is fun!"
I says nothin'. Then I done
Somethin' that I seldom do --
Ringer and a leaner, too.
More I got the worse he threw,
Worse he threw the more he swore.
Game stood seventeen to four.
Him? He couldn't hit a door.

But at last he had some luck --
Throwin' wild, the stake he struck;
Shoe just wobbled, leaned and stuck.
And you ought to hear him yell
When I hit it and it fell,
Givin' him a ringer. Well,
Just to make the story short,
My luck got the other sort,
And he says, "Ain't this the sport?"

Settin' underneath a tree
After he had walloped me,
"Now, here's my philosophy,"
He remarked, "to never quit
When your luck is off a bit,
For you yet will conquer it."

"Maybe you are right," I said,
"But, it seems to me, instead
It's to shoot and keep your head.
Luck will sometimes pull you through,
Like it lately did for you,
But, when luck goes up the flue,
If you keep your temper sweet
You can stand it to be beat,
You can swallow your defeat.

"Some folks everything begin
With a pray'r for strength to win.
Well, that isn't any sin,
But, to keep away the blues,
Here's the pray'r that I would choose,
'Give me strength, O Lord, to lose!'"





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