Friday, October 2, 2009

Poetry: Perseverance - by Gelett Burgess

From: Goops and how to be them: A Manual of Manners for Polite Infants Inculcating Many Juvenile Virtues Both By Precept and Example With Ninety Drawings -- by Gelett Burgess

Here's the text:

Perseverance - by Gelett Burgess

Tony started bright and early, clearing up his room,
Soon he found he had to stop and make a little broom;
So then he went into the yard to get a little stick,
But the garden needed weeding, so he set about it, quick!
Then he found his wagon he intended to repair
So he went into the cellar for the hammer that was there;
He'd just begun to build a box, when it was time for dinner,
And that's why Tony's father called his son a "good beginner."

Burgess is best known for his poem about never having seen a purple cow. Though he wrote a lot of other humorous verse. At times I have found I can identify with the character of Tony in the above poem. I can easily get distracted.

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