Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PROMPT PAY, by WALT MASON


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PROMPT PAY, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: A man runs up a little bill, and when it's
Last Line: Reputation, some day that rep will knock you down, and hurt like all creation.
Subject(s): Cost Of Living; Merchants; Money; Poverty; Wages; Salaries


A MAN runs up a little bill, and when it's due he pays it; he coughs up for the

merchant's till, and no excuse delays it. Unlike the deadbeats and the bums, he

makes a proper showing; the merchants bless him when he comes, and praise him
when he's going. This man, in season, meets reverse, as all men strike disaster;

and then, when empty is his purse, and hard luck is his master, the dealers say,

"Buy all you wish, until your luck grows stable; we'll gladly trust a man,
oddsfish, who pays up when he's able." Another man runs up a bill, he keeps it
climbing steady; when asked to pay, he says, "I will, when I get good and
ready." Though he has roubles in his belt, and other roubles handy, he'd rather

lose his freckled pelt than pay up like a dandy. And when misfortune dogs his
feet, and want has badly frayed him, and he has but his hat to eat, the
merchants will not aid him. If you are building in your town a bad pay
reputation, some day that rep will knock you down, and hurt like all creation.





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