Sunday, November 13, 2011

WELL, WELL, WELL!

Editor's note: "It's usually commendable to strive for improvement, but sometimes it's better to quit while you're ahead," Dad wrote as the introduction to this poem. "The trick is in knowing when to settle for what you've got."

One time, my Uncle John perceived
His well was going dry,
And so he drilled another one
To get a good supply.

At forty feet he had a flow
That, near as he could tell,
Would give sufficient water
And serve him very well.

Now Uncle John was well aware
A shallow well is cheaper,
But still, he felt it might be well
To drill a little deeper.

He reasoned well, but after they
Had drilled a hundred more,
His well did not produce as well
As it had done before!

I have no doubt my uncle feared
The worst, as well he must,
When, at a hundred eighty feet,
His well was full of dust.

Two hundred feet below the ground
And still dry as a bone;
He should have stopped at forty feet
And let well enough alone!

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