Don't put all of your baskets
on top of one egg, unless the year
is 1929, say, and you're in Vaudeville,
in need of money, playing the Pantages,
and have a basket-act. Look:
before you leap, ask yourself or
someone you trust, 'Do I really
need to leap? ' Haste makes waste,
but not as much of it as cruise-ships,
which sail slowly and stuff people
with food: you do the biology. Unless
someone asks you, 'Incidentally,
was Rome built in 24 hours? ' don't
say, 'Rome wasn't built in a day.'
'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool
me twice, and I advise you to sleep
with one eye closed.' You dig?
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem