Ogden Nash Redux

This morning I was speaking with a man who makes a living by doing odd jobs and repairs, and he was complaining about his shrinking paycheck under Obama, not only in the form of less work opportunities, but the actual deductions from his pay in the form of added taxes and health care costs (I think he files quarterly).

His lament was almost word for word Mr. Nash’s famous poem:

One From One Leaves Two

Higgledy piggledy, my black hen,

She lays eggs for gentlemen.

Gentlemen come every day

To count what my black hen doth lay.

If perchance she lays too many,

They fine my hen a pretty penny;

If perchance she fails to lay,

The gentlemen a bonus pay.

Mumbledy pumbledy, my red cow,

She’s cooperating now.

At first she didn’t understand

That milk production must be planned;

She didn’t understand at first

She either had to plan or burst,

But now the government reports

She’s giving pints instead of quarts.

Fiddle de dee, my next-door neighbors,

They are giggling at their labors.

First they plant the tiny seed,

Then they water, then they weed,

Then they hoe and prune and lop,

They they raise a record crop,

Then they laugh their sides asunder,

And plow the whole caboodle under.

Abracadabra, thus we learn

The more you create, the less you earn.

The less you earn, the more you're given,

The less you lead, the more you're driven,

The more destroyed, the more they feed,

The more you pay, the more they need,

The more you earn, the less you keep,

And now I lay me down to sleep.

I pray the Lord my soul to take

If the tax-collector hasn’t got it before I wake.

-Ogden Nash

(1902-1971)

Snaps of my old battered 1975 book of selected poems by Ogden Nash-

In addition to his poetry, the book also contains many of Ogden Nash's hand drawn cartoons.

This one reminds of a certain politician I know.

Another of my favorites.

- JP