O IT'S good to ketch a relative 'at's richer and don't run When you holler out to hold up, and'll joke and have his fun; It's good to hear a man called bad and then find out he's not, Er strike some chap they call lukewarm 'at's really red-hot; It's good to know the Devil's painted jes' a leetle black, And it's good to have most anybody pat you on the back; -- But jes' the best thing in the world's our old friend Neverfail, When he wags yer hand as honest as an old dog wags his tail! I like to strike the man I owe the same time I can pay, And take back things I've borried, and su'prise folks thataway; I like to find out that the man I voted fer last fall, That didn't git elected, was a scoundrel after all; I like the man that likes the pore and he'ps 'em when he can; I like to meet a ragged tramp 'at's still a gentleman; But most I like -- with you, my boy -- our old friend Neverfail, When he wags yer hand as honest as an old dog wags his tail! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FREE FANTASIA ON JAPANESE THEMES by AMY LOWELL THE BANKS O' DOON by ROBERT BURNS PROGRESSIVE HEALTH by CARL DENNIS LULLABY by CHARLES LUTWIDGE DODGSON MARTHY VIRGINIA'S HAND [SEPTEMBER 17, 1862] by GEORGE PARSONS LATHROP THE RAINY DAY by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW |