Advice
AD ARIUSTUM FUSCUM
I
Horace: Book I, Ode 22.
'_Integer vitae sclerisque purus_'-
_Take it from me: A guy who's square,
His chances always are the best.
I'm in the know, for I've been there,
And that's no ancient Roman jest._
What time he hits the hay to rest
There's nothing on his mind but hair,
No javelin upon his chest-
_Take it from me, a guy who's square._
There's nothing that can throw a scare
Into the contents of his vest;
His name is Eva I-Don't-Care;
_His chances always are the best._
Why, once, when I was way out West,
Singing to Lalage, a bear
Came up, and I was some distressed-
_I'm in the know, for I've been there._
But back he went into his lair,
(Cage, corner, den, retreat, nook, nest) ,
And left me to 'The Maiden's Prayer'-
_And that's no ancient Roman jest._
In Newtonville or Cedar Crest,
In Cincinnati or Eau Claire,
I'll warble till I am a pest,
'My Lalage'-no matter where-
_Take it from me! _
II
Fuscus, my friend, take it from me-
I know the world and what it's made of-
One on the square has naught to be
Afraid of.
The Moorish bows and javelins? Nope.
Such deadly things need not alarm him.
Why, even arrows dipped in dope
Can't harm him!
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poem by Franklin P. Adams
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