Ambulance Down in the Valley

The Ambulance Down in the Valley

‘Twas a dangerous cliff, they freely confessed,

Though to walk near its’ edge was quite pleasant.

Over the side slipped a duke and a prince,

And it had fooled many a peasant.

“Something had to be done,” the people all said.

But their projects did not at all tally.

Some said, “Put a wall around the edge of the cliff.”

Others, “An ambulance down in the valley.”

The lament of the crowd was so loud and profound,

As their hearts overflowed with great pity;

But the ambulance carried the cry of the day

As it spread to the neighboring city.

A collection was made to accumulate aid,

And dwellers in highway and ally,

Gave dollars and cents, not to furnish a fence,

But an ambulance down in the valley.

“For the cliff is alright if you’re careful,” they said.

“And if folks ever slip and are dropping,

It’s not the slipping and sliding that hurts.

So, much as the shock, when they’re stopping.

So on for years, as these mishaps occurred,

Quick forth went the rescuers sally,

To pick up the people that fell from the cliff,

With the ambulance down in the valley.

Said one man in his plea, “It’s a marvel to me,

That you give so much attention

To repairing the hurt than to curing the cause.

You’re much better aimed at prevention.

The mischief, of course, must be stopped at its’ source.

Come, friends and neighbors let’s rally,

It makes far better sense to rely on a fence,

Than an ambulance down in the valley.”

“He’s wrong in his head,” the majority said.

He would end all our earnest endeavor,

He’s the kind of a jerk who would stop all our good work.

But we will support it forever.

Don’t we pick up them all just as quick as they fall,

And treat them with care quite liberally.

A superfluous fence is of no consequence,

If the ambulance works in the valley.

Oh the message is clear as I’ve given it here,

Though things oft occur which are stranger.

More times we assert to repair all the hurt,

Than to plan for removing the danger.

Before it all ends, it time we begin,

To think on things more rationally,

Come, build up the fence, and let us dispense

Of the ambulance down in the valley.