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TREES AND OTHER POEMS DAVE LILLY

HERE'S a brook on the side of Greylock that used to be full of trout,

But there's nothing there now but minnows; they say it is all fished out.

I fished there many a Summer day some twenty years ago,

And I never quit without getting a mess of a dozen or so.

There was a man, Dave Lilly, who lived on the North Adams road,

And he spent all his time fishing, while his neighbors reaped and sowed.

He was the luckiest fisherman in the Berkshire hills, I think.

And when he didn't go fishing he'd sit in the tavern and drink.

Well, Dave is dead and buried and nobody cares very much;

They have no use in Greylock for drunkards and loafers and such. [ 70 ]