Wit and Humor of America, The Vol 02

<h2>THE LOST WORD</h2> <h3>BY JOHN PAUL</h3> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Seated one day at the typewriter,<br/></span> <span class="i2">I was weary of a's and e's,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And my fingers wandered wildly,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Over the consonant keys.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">I know not what I was writing,<br/></span> <span class="i2">With that thing so like a pen;<br/></span> <span class="i0">But I struck one word astounding&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i2">Unknown to the speech of men.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">It flooded the sense of my verses,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Like the break of a tinker's dam,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And I felt as one feels when the printer<br/></span> <span class="i2">Of your "infinite calm" makes clam.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">It mixed up s's and x's<br/></span> <span class="i2">Like an alphabet coming to strife.<br/></span> <span class="i0">It seemed the discordant echo<br/></span> <span class="i2">Of a row between husband and wife.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">It brought a perplexed meaning<br/></span> <span class="i2">Into my perfect piece,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And set the machinery creaking<br/></span> <span class="i2">As though it were scant of grease.</span><span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_294" id="Page_294"></SPAN></span><br/></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">I have tried, but I try it vainly,<br/></span> <span class="i2">The one last word to divine<br/></span> <span class="i0">Which came from the keys of my typewriter<br/></span> <span class="i2">And so would pass as mine.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">It may be some other typewriter<br/></span> <span class="i2">Will produce that word again,<br/></span> <span class="i0">It may be, but only for others&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i2"><i>I</i> shall write henceforth with a pen.<br/></span> <span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_295" id="Page_295"></SPAN></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />