“YOU don’t think YOU’LL have to go??”
Brother, tell ME, if YOU know!
Senator Wheeler, bless his soul,
Has tried to keep our family whole;
General Marshall, though, has fought
For me to fight–he says I ought.
But neither has the faintest notion
If I’ll ever cross an ocean.
So how the devil should I know
Whether I will have to go?
Senator May has said no dice
On drafting fathers–ain’t he nice?
Roosevelt, though, given the chance,
Will gobble up everything in pance,
And quite a few, perhaps, in slacks–
Our QUOTAS we must not relax!”
My Draft-board clerk, black-haired, demure,
Says she’s sure she isn’t sure,
“Cross.my heart and hope to die!”–
If she doesn’t know, then how could I?
The elite among the influential
Say that dads are not essential:
So one of my teachers lied to me–
The one who taught Biology!
Morning’s paper drags me in–
Evening’s throws me out agin!
How the holy can I tell
If the army’s gonna yell?
Here’s quite a truth we oughtta face:
They also serve who wait and pace.
No, I don’t care if they teke me or bar me–
If they’d MAKE UP THEIR MINDS about DADS AND THE ARMY!
by Ray Romine Sunday, October 3, 1943