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Title: Theodore Roosevelt
Author: Harry Graham [
More Titles by Graham]
Alert as bird or early worm,
Yet gifted with those courtly ways
Which connoisseurs correctly term
The tout-c'qu'-il-y-a de Louis seize;
He reigns, by popular assent,
The People's peerless President!
Behold him! Squarely built and small;
With hands that would resemble Liszt's,
Did they not forcibly recall
The contour of Fitzsimmons' fists;
Beneath whose velvet gloves you feel
The politician's grip of steel.
Accomplished as a King should be,
And autocratic as a Czar,
To him all classes bow the knee,
In spotless Washington afar;
And while his jealous rivals scoff,
He wears the smile-that-won't-come-off.
In him combined we critics find
The diplomatic skill of Choate,
Elijah Dowie's breadth of mind,
And Chauncey's fund of anecdote;
He joins the morals of Susannah
To Dr. Munyon's bedside manner.
The rugged virtues of his race
He softens with a Dewey's tact,
Combining Shafter's easy grace
With all Bourke Cockran's love of fact;
To Dooley's pow'rs of observation
He adds the charms of Carrie Nation.
In him we see a devotee
Of what is called the "simpler life"
(To tell the naked Truth, and be
Contented with a single wife).
Luxurious living he abhors,
And takes his pleasures out of doors.
And, since his sole delight and pride
Are exercise and open air,
His spirit chafes at being tied
All day to an official chair;
The bell-boys (in the room beneath)
Can hear him gnash his serried teeth.
In summertime he can't resist
A country gallop on his cob,
So, like a thorough altruist,
He lets another do his job;
In winter he will work all day,
But when the sun shines he makes Hay.
And thus, in spite of office ties,
He manages to take a lot
Of healthy outdoor exercise,
Where other Presidents have not;
As I can prove by drawing your
Attention to his carte du jour.
At 6 a.m. he shoots a bear,
At 8 he schools a restive horse,
From 10 to 4 he takes the air,--
(He doesn't take it all, of course);
And then at 5 o'clock, maybe,
Some colored man drops in to tea.
At intervals throughout the day
He sprints around the house, or if
His residence is Oyster Bay,
He races up and down the cliff;
While seagulls scream about his legs,
Or hasten home to hide their eggs.
A man of deeds, not words, is he,
Who never stooped to roll a log;
Agile as fond gazelle or flea,
Sagacious as an indoor dog;
In him we find a spacious mind,
"Uncribb'd, uncabin'd, unconfin'd."
In martial exploits he delights,
And has no fear of War's alarms;
The hero of a hundred fights,
Since first he was a child (in arms);
Like battle-horse, when bugles bray,
He champs his bit and tries to neigh.
And if the Army of the State
Is always in such perfect trim,
Well-organized and up to date,
This grand result is due to him;
For while his country reaped the fruit,
'Twas he alone could reach the Root.
And spite of jeers that foes have hurled,
No problems can his soul perplex;
He lectures women of the world
Upon the duties of their sex,
And with unfailing courage thrusts
His spoke within the wheels of trusts.
No private ends has he to serve,
No dirty linen needs to wash;
A man of quite colossal nerve,
Who lives sans peur et sans reproche;
In modo suaviter maybe,
But then how fortiter in re!
A lion is his crest, you know,
Columbia stooping to caress it,
With vi et armis writ below,
Nemo impune me lacessit;
His motto, as you've read already,
Semper paratus--always Teddy!
[The end]
Harry Graham's poem: Theodore Roosevelt
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