IT'S well to be sunny, and frisky and gay, if one has some money in brine put away; if we have the plunder where thieves cannot steal, it's surely no wonder if chipper we feel. But some folks don't borrow an ounce weight of care, they heed not tomorrow, when shelves may be bare. And, not a thought giving to what may befall, "We'll live while we're living," they cheerily call; "eat, drink, and be merry, tomorrow we die, and death with his wherry will soon paddle by." And then when tomorrow comes trailing along, all loaded with sorrow and things going wrong, the roysterers grumble and murmur and yelp, and send out a humble petition for help. "Oh, come, come a-flying"—you've heard their old tunes—"our children are crying for codfish and prunes! Be good to us, neighbors, we need food and coal, and you, by your labors, have piled up a roll! With hunger we sicken, we languish and die! Oh, bring us fried chicken and pretzels and pie!" Each winter the thriftless send up the old wail, the heedless, the shiftless, the fellows who fail. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CARELESS CONTENT by JOHN BYROM DON JUAN: DEDICATION [OR, INVOCATION] by GEORGE GORDON BYRON FORBIDDEN FRUIT: 2 by EMILY DICKINSON THE WANDER-LOVERS by RICHARD HOVEY BALLADE OF BROKEN FLUTES by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON ARIEL'S SONG (1) [OR, DIRGE] [OR, A SEA DIRGE]. FR. THE TEMPEST by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE WHERE GO THE BOATS? by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON SONNETS FROM SERIES RELATING TO EDGAR ALLEN POE: 1 by SARAH HELEN POWER WHITMAN UPON THE LATE LAMENTABLE ACCIDENT OF FIRE ... by JOHN ALLISON (1645-1683) |