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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ASKING FAVORS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Friendship always wavers, ceases to be
Last Line: All your days, for your friends will shake you and denounce your ways.
Subject(s): Friendship


FRIENDSHIP always wavers, ceases to be sweet, if you're asking favors every time

we meet. When I sit a-basking by my cottage door, neighbors come up asking
favors till I'm sore. "I would like to borrow your alfalfa stack; early on the
morrow I will send it back." "Over at my shanty there is much to do; will you
lend your auntie for a week or two?" "Hard times make me holler, I am short of
tin; can you spare a dollar till my ship comes in?" "May the gods defend me, for

I'm stricken hard, and I wish you'd lend me seven pounds of lard." "I have
supped with sorrow more than other men, and I'd like to borrow your old setting

hen." "Will you kindly loan me sundry hoes and rakes?" So they come and bone me,

till my bosom aches. Borrowers are chronic when they once begin, and I need a
tonic for my cheer-up grin. Borrowing's a habit that will make your friend
scamper like a rabbit when his way you wend. Borrowing will make you lonesome
all your days, for your friends will shake you and denounce your ways.





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