Didn’t I hear some staff-member say, “How come he doesn’t
write a pome about US”?? I dood it. You may, for
all I care, call it “MANPOWER SHORTAGE”…
They speak of the Manpower Shortage as bad–
(Let me tell you about an experience I had):
Can y’imagine “Crusading”–Five girls to a man,
And myself the only man present–YOU CAN?
There was Dinny, and Margie, and Evaninne, too,
And Helen of Troy, and the Duchess (to you);
Five beauteous damsels all lush and full-blown:
And, when we had finished, I went home, ALONE!
Can it be that I’m slipping, or getting too old–
Or was I too timid, or maybe too bold?
There’s B.O. to consider, and pink toothbrush, too;
There’s no Best Friend who’ll tell me, so what’ll I do?
I’m six inches too tall, and too skinny, at that;
Or it may be my neckties, or even my hat;
It may be my flat feet; perhaps halitosis;
It could be I need a whole metamorphosis!
Of course, there is Florence and Sandy, but then,
What’s a trifle like that, with this shortage of Men?
My pride, it preceedeth some whale of a fall–
For, the worst thing, I’d no competition at all!
From the tall tales we hear, only One of those Five
Should have walked (with myself) from the Howards’ alive!
But, without any warning, the meeting was stag;
They’d scrammed out and left me there, holding the bag!
You guys in the Army, it’s tough to be bored,
But it’s better than being completely IGNORED!
For, when speaking of “Manpower Shortage” that be
They’re exempting the Boy Scouts, the Poets, and ME!!
June 23, 1943
(The day following the
“Crusading” above mentioned)
by Ray Romine Wednesday, June 23, 1943
