Friday, April 17, 2015

Lay Low, Teddy


(M. Clement, the builder f a big dirigible balloon, has invited Theodore Roosevelt to make an ascension during his visit in France)


O, don’t you do it, Teddy,
     No matter what the boon,
Don’t accept the invitation
     To try out that French balloon.
No matter how they urge you,
     You’ll do well, I’ll be bound,
Just to keep your understanding
     Safe upon the solid ground.

You can flay the thickest jungle
     In a manner most sublime;
You can twist a lion’s wig-wag,
     And subdue him every time.
But O, Teddy, stop and listen,
     When you’re miles up in the air,
You can’t shoot yourself to safety
     If the bag goes on a tear.

Don’t you fly too high, O, Teddy,
     Though you like to be on top;
If the bubble should be punctured
     It would be an awful drop.
Don’t you let them fool you, Teddy,
     Win your eye and let them croon;
Keep your feet on terra firma,
     Don’t you tackle that balloon.



April 17, 1910

San Francisco Call, Volume 107, Number 139, 18 April 1910, p.1

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, NY), Friday Sept. 16, 1910, p. 19

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