The Ballad of “Why Not?”

              (Foreign)

If you have got a thing to sell,

Which will the public comfort swell,

     Why don’t you sell it?

If you have got a song to sing,

Or you have got a yarn to spring,

Why wait till Time has clipped your wing?

     Why don’t you tell it?

              (General)

If you can do a kindly act,

And have the leisure and the tact,

     Why don’t you do it?

If you know of a better way,

To shape your course from day to day,

Where honest feet would better stray,

     Why not pursue it?

              (Local)

If you’ve got something ‘neath your hood,

That savors of the public good,

     Pray let us know it;

If you’ve got something up your sleeve,

Which you know isn’t make-believe,

Why try forever to deceive?

     Why don’t you show it?

April 2, ‘09