Pick And Mix. Poem by Charles M Moore

So you heard the mother calling
and you heard the baby cry
and the midwife put the baby down
beside the mothers side
and she cried out 'Get the doctor'
'There's another on the way'
'The father has just fainted'
'And the Priest is looking grey'

I remember Mama told me
'If you have to go to war'
'Before you pick the gun up'
'Ask them what their fighting for'
'Are they fighting for their freedom'
'Are they fighting for their land'
'Or is it maybe that they fight'
'For economic plans'

The chessmen on the table
battle valiantly each day
and the pawns are on the frontline
while the leaders hide away
saying 'Wont you save us' 'Beat them'
'They look different' they cry
but if you turn the table round
you see the same applies

The mechanic said 'I'm sorry'
'But your engine has just died'
'It has gone to metal heaven'
'Rust in pieces in the sky'
'There are spare parts on the table'
'That we salvaged from the death'
'We can use them in another car
to help reduce your debt

I thought I'd buy an ice cream
from a van down in the street
I gave the guy Ten dollars
as he handed me the sweet
I dropped it and a Collie
caught the ice cream in its mouth
as I chased the Collie Northwards
my change and driver headed South

These are just some other stories
from a page inside a book
like all the other stories
that you may have overlooked
or you read them never realising
what they truly said
an oversight, an overwrite
or maybe over read.