Page 12 - Poetry-Country

While thus dismayed o’er matters wrong
An old man chanced to trudge along,
To whom he told, with wormwood tears,
How his affairs were in arrears,
And what a desperate state of things
A picked-up horseshoe sometimes brings.

The stranger asked to see the shoe,
The farmer brought it into view;
But when the old man raised his head,
He laughed outright, and quickly said
“No wonder skies upon you frown—
You’ve nailed the horseshoe upside down!
Just turn it round, and soon you’ll see
How you and Fortune will agree.”

The farmer turned the horseshoe round,
And showers began to swell the ground;
The sunshine laughed among his grain,
And heaps on heaps piled up the wain;
The loft his hay could barely hold,
His cattle did as they were told;
His fruit trees needed sturdy props
To hold the gathering apple crops;
His turnip and potato fields
Astonished all men by their yields;
Folks never saw such ears of corn
As in his smiling hills were born;
His barn was full of bursting bins—
His wife presented him with twins;
His neighbors marveled more and more
To see the increase in his store.
And now the merry farmer sings
“There are two ways of doing things;
And when for good luck you would pray,
Nail up your horseshoe the right way!”

—(Harper’s Monthly, 1881)

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