The Boat Builder

Jed Martin started in to build

     A boat ten years ago;

He laid the keel and got the ribs

     All set up in a row.

An’ then she seemed to hang right there,

     An’ didn’t ‘pear to grow

An’ askin’ Jed he simply said,

     “The styles are changin’ so”

“I ain’t a-goin’ to finish off

     Until I know jest how

They’re goin’ to have their sharpies built

     Well, say, six months from now.

They’re changin’ models ev’ry year –

     How kin a feller know?

Best thing for me is to wait an’ see,

     The styles are changin’ so.”

“I ain’t in much of any sweat

     About the launchin’, so

I’ll drive a nail in now an’ then,

     An’ work her purty slow.”

An’ so he waited year by year

     An’ loafed about the while,

An’ kept her there all bleached an’ bare,

     To get a better style.

Bill Jones he got disgusted with

     The waitin’ year by year,

An’ says, “I’d kinder like to put

     A flea, Jed, in your ear:

You ain’t obleeged to wait for styles

     Till tophet’s overthrown;

Don’t let her rot, that boat has got

     A style that’s all her own!”

Jed set an’ thought an’ thought an’ set,

     An’ scratched away until

The truth flashed on him; he said:

     “By thunder, you’re right, Bill!

But what gits me,” an’ Jed looked round

     The circle in the store,

“Is why in thunderation you

     Didn’t say that before!”

March 11, ‘09