Douglas Daily Dispatch

More Truth Than Poetry
By JAMES J. MONTAGUE

IT'S CONCENTRATION THAT COUNTS

The gunman is lacking in grammar.
He's lacking in culture and poise,
In Latin and Greek he's decidedly weak,
Good music he never enjoys.
He is often a mental deficient
And yet it seems safe to predict
That inside of a year, with his rod and his leer,
He will have all the rest of us licked,
The gunman has no erudition,
He often can't write his own name;
But you'll probably find that he puts all his mind
On learning the art of his game.
One slip, when he works at his calling,
One miss with a gun or a knife.
One little mistake and he'll need a good break
To help him get off with his life.
If all of us studied our callings
As the gunman must study his own,
If we knew if we failed we'd be speedily jailed
In a house made of iron and stone,
Perhaps we should be more successful
Perhaps, in some not distant day.
We should rise in our might and engage in a fight
Which would put all the gunmen away.
But we lead a more pleasant existence:
It is easy for us to get by.
We never need say as we go on our way.
"If we make one mistake, we shall die."
We can blunder as much as we're prone to
And still attain most of our needs,
But the gunman's soon dead if he don't use his head
Which is why he so often succeeds.