The Run-Up

© Claude Morris

The Boss was up before the sun,
Eager to have the muster begun,
But Charlie the blackboy never could share
The Old Man's taste for the pre-dawn air.
And had to be wakened day by day
By the Riot Act roared in the Old Man's way.

"When I was young," he once declared,
"At five o'clock I was up and prepared,
And I'd run two miles, and just for fun,
Jump a five-foot gate at the end of the run."

Lazily Charlie got up from his seat,
Quite unimpressed by this splendid feat.
"Five foot?" he said with a pitying look,
"An' so you should - look at the run you took!"