This horrid old war is right _in_ our house
Making itself _at home_, goodness sakes!
The scraps from our table won't feed a _mouse_
We've cut out desserts, salads, and cakes.
Monday is meatless and Tuesday is dry,
Wednesday is _sugarless_, too, gee whiz!
Our plates must be _cleaned_, they tell us. That's why
We _eat_ the garbage before it _is_!
So I bought a melon the other day
When ma was 'tending a Red Cross tea.
I wanted it _awful_ bad.... Anyway
It wasn't so _big_--just right for me--
And then, just to keep from wasting a _drop_,
I _ate it all up!_... Our colored Liz
Says Pa told the doctor, "My fault, old top--
"'We eat the garbage before it is.'"
The doctor was writing a 'scription note
When I come to, turned over and grinned,
And he frowned at Pa, as he wrote and wrote,
Till Pa grew red like his cheeks was _skinned_.
"Eating the garbage? Now, listen, man,
If that's your game it's good for _my_ biz.
But if _I_ was _you_, I surely would 'can'
"'We eat the garbage before it is!'"