Show ilMore V V More Truth Than han Poetry 1 I V By JAMES J. J MONTAGUE j I TOO LATE NOW V Weve We've often otten pitied Thomas Gray Who Vho wrote for seven years V V And had one poem to repay His troubles toil and tears V V i iSaid iSaid V Said we I If that's the tl price of ot fame tame fame 5 Delivered when ones one's dead dead dead- y 3 J V Wed We'd best avoid the writing game V V f fAnd V And do real work instead V I The piece that Mr Gray Cray turned out V No sordid wealth amassed V I Nor was it valued till about A hundred years had passed Tho The manuscript may now be worth worthA V 1 j A fortune maybe fortune maybe two two two- V But Gray has v vanished from this earth V VV J V And not one cent he drew I V V i Yet now Joe Conrad comes along V And while hes he's still alive V round his letters V VV VV V The buyers throng V V Like LUe bees bee about a hive i V His fame in life is made secure k V f I Afar collectors come V t V To offer for W lii hie e s V A most prodigious sum VV V No mute mute Milton inglorious inglorIous' now vi V VIs Is forced to walk the street V VV V With hunger writ upon his brow V VV V And not a crust rust to eat VV V V V The modern author rolls in pelf V I V V His EIs heart is always light And happy happy and and as for ours ell We wish wed we'd learned to write V V IN AND OUT V No Now and then a colIe college e professor pops out of ot I obscurity gathers in the Nobel prize and then ducks back Into obscurity again V Copyright 1923 1921 by the Bell BeH Syndicate Inc |