A hundred people I employed, <br />But when they struck for higher pay, <br />I was so damnably annoyed <br />I told them they could stay away. <br />I simply shut my business down; <br />I closed my doors and locked them out, <br />And now you'll find all round the town <br />A lot of idle men about. <br /> <br />Of course I know it is my loss, <br />And I their point of view can see, <br />But I must show them I'm the boss, <br />And any raise must come from ME. <br />But when they claim it as a right, <br />And send their Union leaders round, <br />Why then, by God, I'm out to fight, <br />Or burn my workshop to the ground. <br /> <br />I've risen from the ranks myself; <br />By brawn and brain I've made my way. <br />Had I bet, beered and blown my pelf, <br />I would have been as poor as they. <br />Had I wed young to thrift's unheed, <br />I might have been a toiler now, <br />With rent to pay and kids to feed, <br />And bloody sweat upon my brow. <br /> <br />Ah there's the point! "I might have been." <br />I might have been as peeved as they, <br />And know what misery can mean, <br />And ask like them a raise of pay. <br />I see myself. . . . "The telephone!" <br />. . . Had I not been so bloody wise - <br />(A poor old rich man all alone) . . . <br />"Hullo! Strike's off. I grant the rise."<br /><br />Robert William Service<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/self-made-man/
