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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
PROMPT PAY, by WALT MASON 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. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WORK by ALEKSANDR SERGEYEVICH PUSHKIN HUDSON RIVER ANTHOLOGY by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS ECLOGUE: THE TIMES by WILLIAM BARNES THE PAY ENVELOPE (1) by EDGAR ALBERT GUEST |
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