Tiny Tate Poem by Daniel B. Syphus

Tiny Tate



</></> Oh everyone likes Tiny Tate; a nicer boy you’ll never meet.
He hails from Idaho & raised Potato with his dad
and oh that boy can eat
He downs a 30 oz New York just for starters, with a 3 pound Russet on the side,
Then a rack of ribs, three ears a corn, four rolls with butter, then a salad and some chili fries.

When tiny was a school boy and had his lessons done, of course,
His daddy taught him how to work and to pull a plow by teaming him with their best draft horse.
And when the horse was wet and had enough to wear him down Pa would turn him loose to eat some hay
While Tiny kept on pulling breakin’ brand new ground until the evenin’ sun had crept away.

When Tiny squeezes through a door he ducks his head to clear
And they say as a young boy back in Idaho his pet was a full grown steer.
Tiny liked to hold him on his lap and scratch his chin just to put him in a happy way,
And when the work was done they liked to wrestle all day long until Tiny heard his momma say…

“Now Tiny don’t you hurt that steer; you know how much you like your steak!
We can’t afford to lose 1200 lbs again. Just let him be for heaven’s sake!
Now get in this house, an’ wash your self, an’ sit right down. It’s time for dinner don’t you know?
But shake off the ¼ acre you’ve got in your hair. For heaven’s sake your covered Head to toe! ”

Well Tiny, was a growing boy, and his momma weren’t no fool.
She told him that the time had come to see the world or get away and go to school.
So he moved into the city and he found a job as a big time wrestler in the show;
Though, he’d never had no formal training back at home in that one room school in Idaho.

Well, the man in charge, he’d been around a city block just a couple times
He figured Tiny as a lackey who could make him rich by lain’ down in a couple o’ fights.
And when the stakes got high enough he’d lay his money down and give his boy the nod to take the crown.
Then the man would take the winnings and he’d walk away and they’d all be movin’ way up town.

But Tiny was an honest soul who couldn’t bear his best to shirk.
Sure he liked to have his fun with the other boys then he’d settle down and go to work.
So every time that he climbed into the ring to fight he’d please the folks who’d come to watch the show.
And he told the man that “If your plan’s to do some cheatin’, then you’ll have to get another bo.

When Tiny came to work each night and climbed over the ropes
The men who faced him from across the fighting ring would often lose all hope.
Though all the fighters new that he was kind and fair from the bouts that they had fought before
These men who barely tipped the scales at two eight five where facing him at over four six four.

The boss man couldn’t help but like this boy from way out west
So he turned him lose each evening in the fighting ring and he said “Go and do your best!
The crowds all like you and the show’s making money. It’s the first time I’ve been in the red.”
Tiny thanked the man for seein’ right and playin’ straight then he told him what his daddy said.

When I was growing up back home and was trying to learn what’s right,
I would sometimes have a talk with my daddy by the wood shed late at night.
He taught me that we reap just what we sow in life and to keep this thought inside my head;
“In life you can’t be plantin’ Russets in the field, and then hope to go and harvest Reds.”

Yes everyone likes Tiny Tate; a nicer boy you’ll never meet.
He hails from Idaho & raised Potato with his dad and oh that boy can eat
His daddy taught him that we reap just what we sow in life and to keep this thought inside his head;
“In life you can’t be plantin’ Russets in the field, and then hope to go and harvest Reds.”

To the Jim Croce Tune, Rapid Roy

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