"Business is Business," the Little Man said, "A battle where 'everything goes,' Where the only gospel is 'get ahead,' And never spare friends or foes. 'Slay or be slain,' is the slogan cold, You must struggle and slash and tear, For Business is Business, a fight for gold, Where all that you do is fair!" "Business is Business," the Big Man said, "A battle to make of earth A place to yield us more wine and bread, More pleasure and joy and mirth; There are still some bandits and buccaneers Who are jungle-bred beasts of trade, But their number dwindles with passing years And dead is the code they made! "Business is Business," the Big Man said, "But it's something that's more, far more; For it makes sweet gardens of deserts dead, And cities it built now roar Where once the deer and the gray wolf ran From the pioneer's swift advance; Business is Magic that toils for man, Business is True Romance. "And those who make it ruthless fight Have only themselves to blame If they feel no whit of the keen delight In playing the Bigger Game, The game that calls on the heart and head, The best of man's strength and nerve; Business is business," the Big Man said, "And that Business is to serve!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CASABIANCA by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM BY THE BABYLONIAN HORDES by ISAAC ROSENBERG LOOKING FORWARD by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON A GULL GOES UP by LEONIE ADAMS RECOLLECTION by ANNE REEVE ALDRICH AT BAY RIDGE, LONG ISLAND by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH QUATRAIN: FROM EASTERN SOURCES: 3 by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH POEM FOR PICTURE: TO A DRAWING OF A HORSE BY GEORGIO DI CHIRICO by FRANK ANKENBRAND JR. |