SOME OLDIES

 Please forgive Fiorella for her absence and enjoy today's offering:

    

 The mothers in my neighborhood

      Are skilled with stake and twine--

      To brace the wilting saplings straight 

       And tie the erring vine

       

     The mothers in my neighborhood

      Are skilled with shears and string

      To prune the wayward leaning twig

      And nip the hands of spring

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                  Dieting

        I'll tell my story straight--

        I'm carrying too much freight:

        Maybe I'll lose some weight

        If I stopped stepping up to the plate--

        Oops--dinner bell--too late!

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         Ding dong, the book is done!

         I'd like to say that it was fun,

         But I bet that you could smell a rat

         'Cuz I'd be lying through a my hat--

          I rote and read and rote again

          I beat my brain and cursed my pen

          I yelled and screamed and threw a fit--

         But now that I am done with it --

              Yes, of course, I've begun

               To write myself another one!