Franklin Pierce Adams

Office Mottoes

Motto heartening, inspiring,
 Framed above my pretty *desk,
Never Shelley, Keats, or Byring*
 Penned a phrase so picturesque!
But in me no inspiration
 Rides my low and prosy brow–
All I think of is vacation
When I see that lucubration:
 
 
         DO IT NOW
 
 
When I see another sentence
 Framed upon a brother’s wall,
Resolution and repentance
 Do not flood o’er me at all
As I read that nugatory
 Counsel written years ago,
Only when one comes to borry[Footnote: Entered under the Pure License of
                           1906.]
Do I heed that ancient story:
 
 
         TELL HIM NO
 
 
Mottoes flat and mottoes silly,
   Proverbs void of point or wit,
‘KEEP A-PLUGGIN’ WHEN IT’S HILLY!’
   'LIFE’S A TIGER: CONQUER IT!’
Office mottoes make me weary
   And of all the bromide bunch
There is only one I seri–
Ously like, and that’s the cheery:
 
           GONE TO LUNCH
Other works by Franklin Pierce Adams...



Top