What the world needs now is gumption, now as never before. Of
All the things it needs, it’s what the world needs more of
Most. The thing that springs to mind, that 'all you need
Is love, it’s what the world needs more of,' we’re agreed.
It’s hard to not agree with what they, John and Hal*,
Allege is key. But love unaided can’t corral
The CO2s that foul our air, the devastation
Caused, reverse or slow a growing population.
‘Where’s your gumption?’ grownups used to say, disgusted
With you when you couldn’t do a job entrusted
To you as you ought to, as if you’d misplaced it,
As if they though if you’d had it you’d have aced it.
It can’t be mislaid or lost or stashed or thrown away,
You can’t invest or plant it to grow more or for display.
But be that as it may it’s sure in short supply,
The mettle, moxie, nerve, resolve to do or die.
Old fashioned gumption, I believe it could be shown
[Somewhat the same as hemp is], if it could be grown,
Dispensed and smoked as medication, could be bought
And sold in stores, or could be put in books and taught
In schools, we’d be ahead of the curve. But that’s the hell
Of it; it can’t be grown, it ain’t for sale.
It ain’t like hemp, it don’t make you more sociable.
Nor is it like bearer bonds, it’s non negotiable.
It’s there for you to do the job that’s got to be done,
To help you win the battles that have got to be won.
It’s just another word for horse or common sense
[Though common it is not]. To buffalos, a fence
Is there to be got through. It’s those who wouldn’t be
Expected to who make the world go round. You see
Them on TV, the so called News--the so called nerds.
They’re fighting global warming, making out with words,
They’re politicians playing statesmen playing God. Call
Such as they are what you will, it takes an oddball
Or a jerk, a loner, someone slightly strange
To think he can and fool enough to try to change
The world we’re in. It takes somebody with the guts
To face the fear of death and answer, ‘Nuts!’
To Krauts in coal scuttle hats, a flag of truce in hand,
The grit to go it alone, say no to their demand,
To spit on his hands, take hold and hang on as rehearsed
Till the cows come home or Patton comes up, whichever comes first.
It’s got its down side too, for one with gumption is
By nature much more likely to take more than his
Fair share, more apt to start a war, to take a crown
Found lying in the gutter, place the hand me down
On his own noggin, having stayed the Pontiff’s hand.
Finders, keepers ain’t no way to pick The Man.
He sometimes starts to feel entitled to the perks
Crowned heads have earned by right, to do a few good works
That incidentally do some good and hang around
Long after he is gone, addicted to the siren sound
Of trumpets and renown, to have you bow and grab your balls,
Take hold and hang on tight. But it’s been shown that walls
Don’t work, it’s as a rule no way to run a state.
States don’t get run too well that way, but it’s too late,
And risky too, to terminate him. He’s The Man.
He runs the place the way he wants because he can.
He gets to be the captain, gets the final say.
How did he get to be, how does he get to stay?
Could it be too much gumption, more than his fair share,
Too much for his own good, and ours? Could there
Be such a thing? Take for example Mr Ford,
Who made a car most folks could buy, let loose a horde
Of Huns upon the land. And then there’s Mr Sam,
Who got the biggest benefit, who ran a scam,
Some say, a scheme to skim the middle class away
And grow a larger lower class with less to say.
* Hal David/Burt Bacharach
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of..".
John Lennon/Paul McCartney
All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.
2010 feb 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 thu d fulgham