On Easy Street

How many souls we see each day

     As on through life we go,

With restless eyes and itchy palms,

     With falt’ring steps and slow,

Forever seeking thro’ the cold,

     Or through summer’s heat,

That rainbow refuge dear to all

     We term as “Easy Street”.

We may be working at the bench,

     Or scrubbing up the floor;

We may be holding down a chair

     Behind an office door.

It matters not, we dream and dream,

     With visions passing sweet,

Of that secluded resting place

     We know as “Easy Street”.

Let’s look at “Easy Street”, and see

     Whatever we may see;

There’s idleness and guile that tends

     To breed debauchery.

There’s desecrations and divorce,

     And visions incomplete;

There’s everything but happiness

     On so called “Easy Street”.

March 26, 1913

For Monday,

April 14, 1913