HEY, WHO WANTS A NEW LADDER
RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX,
THAT HASN'T GOT ANY KNICKS OR KNOCKS,
OR ISN'T COVERED WITH MARKS AND SCRATCHES,
OR HAS ANY NASTY MIX-MATCHED PATCHES?
WHO WANTS A LADDER WITHOUT MISSING SLOTS,
THAT ISN'T ROUGH AND TUMBLE, AND WORN IN SPOTS,
OR HASN'T ANY UNSIGHTLY, UNSHAVEN GNARLS,
OR ANY TWISTY, BENDY, POINTY SNARLS?
WHO WANTS A LADDER BRAND NEW,
THAT'S NEVER BEEN TRIED, OR PROVEN TRUE,
ONE YOU DON'T KNOW, AND ONE WHO DOESN'T KNOW YOU?
NOT ME! I'LL KEEP MY OLD LADDER,
THOUGH IT MAY BE FALLING APART,
IT'S STILL NEAR AND DEAR TO MY HEART.
THAT MAY NOT SOUND TOO CLEVER,
BUT YOU SEE - IT'S BEEN WITH ME FOREVER! T. W. FULLER; __