Early in a damp woodsman's camp
seeing sawyers from a logging town
to stop the conversation bogging down
as asked my age among other things
I replied, 'Cut off my head and count the rings,'
then had to be quick-witted and fast-footed
made a bee-line through the trees
so as not to lose my noggin
when a burly lumberjack grabbed his axe
I ducked and dodged his mighty swing
which (in a nonce) saved my bacon (and my bonce)
and them's the actual facts
Where learned men converse
On college grounds traverse
Those lads debonair and debutantes fair
With diamonds in their purse
By limousine conveyed
Their education's paid
A most common tale of Harvard and Yale
Where seeds of affluence laid
When privileged young voyeurs
Become doctors and lawyers
From arrogant perch they snub and besmirch
Sneering at Tom Sawyers
Under thumb of those knaves
We become but their slaves
Placed in the dust by the cruel upper crust
With no names on our graves
Those who saw with a saw
are called sawyers
some who lie with the law
we call lawyers
When Tom Sawyer opened his boutique
His first ad caused people to scoff
The wording caused the bad critique
It said, "Tom Sawyer panties half off!"
OLD DREAMS
it’s nothing fancy
just an old two-story home –
unfinished basement
plastic siding over wood
on high ground against a flood
and the neighborhood?
hey! It’s about just plain folks
folks living just plain –
no doctors, bankers, lawyers
nope! we’re wood-cutters, sawyers
this is where i live
oh i could do much better
this i tell myself
trying to set self above
giving my old butt a shove
talk about old age
talk about one being stuck
talk about old dreams
nope! this common crowd will do
sorry for the lonely few
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