Random Shots

I shot an arrow into the air, it fell in the distance, I knew not

where, till a neighbour said that it killed his calf, and I had to pay

him six and a half ($6.50).  I bought some poison to slay some rats,

and a neighbour swore that it killed his cats; and, rather than argue

across the fence, I paid him four dollars and fifty cents ($4.50).  One

night I set sailing a toy balloon, and hoped it would soar till it

reached the moon; but the candle fell out, on a farmer's straw, and he

said I must settle or go to law.  And that is the way with the random

shot; it never hits in the proper spot; and the joke you spring, that

you think so smart, may leave a wound in some fellow's heart.

                                                                                           by Walt Mason