Uncle Walt [Walt Mason], the Poet Philosopher — John Shaqi
Uncle Walt [Walt Mason], the Poet PhilosopherMason, Walt
General
Uncle Walt [Walt Mason], the Poet Philosopher
Mason, Walt
Poetry
The wizard of the garden, the scientist who found a way to raise a
peartree with branches underground, who gave us boneless pumpkins and
non-explosive peas, and gutta-percha lettuce, and beets that grow on
trees--this wizard of the garden, with venom is assailed, by lesser
lights of science, who tried his stunts and failed. And thus it was
forever, and thus 'twill always be; the man who wins must suffer the
shafts of calumny. We're mostly small potatoes, we critters here on
earth; we kick at big achievements, we snarl at sterling worth; we view
the greater triumphs of industry and art, and if we find no blemish, it
nearly breaks our heart. Go on, O Luther Burbank, the Wizard of the
West! Heed not the hoots of people by jealousy oppressed; send forth
your sea-green roses, to scent a thousand Junes, produce your horseless
radish, and double action prunes!
_Governed Too Much_
I love the sun and the gentle breeze, and the brook that winds through
the pleasant vale; and I love the birds, and I love the trees, and I'm
always glad when I'm out of jail. We are governed now by so many laws
that liberty's dead, and we've heard its knell, and the wise man carries
a set of saws, to cut his way from a prison cell. The grocer wails in a
dungeon deep, for he sold an egg that was out of date; the baker's
fetters won't let him sleep, a loaf of his bread was under weight. The
butcher beats at his prison door, and fills the air with his doleful
moan; they'll cut off his head when the night is o'er, for he sold a
steak that was mostly bone. The milkman's there in the prison yard, and
the jailers flog him and make him jump; it seems to me that his fate is
hard, though he did draw milk from the old home pump. A sickly weed,
that was lank and thin, embellished my lot, at the edge of town, and the
peelers nabbed me and ran me in, because I neglected to cut it down. I
dropped a can as I crossed the park, and that is a crime that's against
the law; so they shut me up in a dungeon dark, with its rusty chains and
its moldy straw. I love the brook and the summer breeze, and I'm rather
mashed on the howling gale; and I'm fond of robins and bumblebees, and
I'm always glad when I'm out of jail.
_Success In Life_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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