My dad, born today, the 17th of February
bucked fate head-on, courageous and daring
Raised in a home on a block so poor
he swam upstream, de rigeur
In 1926, all his teeth fell out
lack of fluoridation won that bout
In 1929, young brother Sidney died of malnutrition
the family couldn't afford to see a physician
In '33, he chucked religion, came to Chicago on a mission
to look for a job midst the Great Depression
His family had gambled on their decision
that my father Maury's iron-willed ambition
Would see brother Herman through dental school
which my dad would pay for, as a hard-working fool
And so he did (!) and so it went, 'till my father Maury was
sent overseas, B.A. in hand, to fight Adolph Hitler in a foreign land
When he returned, he earned himself a law degree
married his sweetheart Maxine with two pennies
or three to his name, he toiled at his law firm's bottom
'till he saved so much money that a ranch house he got him
in Highland Park, Illinois in a subdivision on a tree-lined street
my dad's rags-to-relative-riches story, a Horatio Alger throwback treat
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horatio alger, birthday, courage, growing up,
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World War two
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When I stop being interested in new things
When I stop learning
My dying begins
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