When I consider how my life’s misspent:
The sleep I’ve lost, the chances I have missed;
My softness when I should have made a fist;
My harshness at those times when to have bent
Were less of madness; my fullblowm well-meant
Endeavors which deservedly were hissed–
One might believe too numerous to list
The errors with which such a life is rent!
The poorest nature, though, two sides reveals.
A week ago I gave a tramp a dime
(It helped my ego); and I greased the wheels
On a kid’s bike which had irked me for some time.
I full well know what neighborliness means:
I helped a new grass widow* with her screens…
[*a woman whose husband is away often or for a prolonged period.]
by Ray Romine Thursday, August 23, 1951
