{"id":22158,"date":"2013-12-01T00:31:56","date_gmt":"2013-12-01T07:31:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/?p=22158"},"modified":"2014-11-30T21:16:55","modified_gmt":"2014-12-01T04:16:55","slug":"the-demise-of-pickins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/the-demise-of-pickins\/","title":{"rendered":"The Demise of Pickins"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"MarkStoval<\/a> | A skinny fellow, name of Pickins
\nMade a livin\u2019 raisin\u2019 chickens.
\nTraded eggs for other stuff;
\nHe was doin\u2019 well enough.<\/p>\n

A stranger stopped by for lunch one day,
\nWhen it was et, he wouldn\u2019t pay!
\nStranger says his name was King,
\nAnd Chicken was his favorite thing.<\/p>\n

He claimed some revenue was due him;
\nAnd Pickins was to give it to him.
\nWell, Pickins got his musket out
\nAnd ran off that ungrateful lout.<\/p>\n

Pickins got a surly dog
\nTo guard his chickens and his hog.
\nHe built a fence both tall and stout,
\nTo keep the thieves and vagrants out.<\/p>\n

Defense used up his sparse resources,
\nSo Pickins harnessed up his horses.
\nHe plowed more land to grow more oats
\nTo feed his horses and his goats.<\/p>\n

He made a little profit, too;
\nA fresh new colt, a kid or two,
\nBut paper notes he did eschew,
\nAnd paperwork and taxes, too.<\/p>\n

A tenth he gave to God always,
\nAnd thanked Him in his daily praise.
\nWas in his dealings even handed,
\nBut King a ransom now demanded.<\/p>\n

Upon his fields and his flock,
\nUpon his hat and on his sox.
\nAnd even on his largest rocks,
\nWhich gave no graze and grew no crops!<\/p>\n

Enormous fees they now assessed
\nOn assets he had never guessed.
\nAnd said that he had better pay,
\nIndeed, upon that very day!<\/p>\n

But you\u2019ve not worked to raise the crops,
\nYour hands are soft; your felly flops.
\nI\u2019ll pay no revenue to you!
\nYour claims are void, your logic, too!<\/p>\n

They carted Pickins off post-haste,
\nConfined him in a deep dank place.
\nSeized his chickens, fields, and pens.
\nGave them out to King\u2019s dear friends.<\/p>\n

Alas, this is no foolish fable,
\nOf kingly follies told at table.
\nGovernments, like kings of old,
\nCoercing peaceful, private souls.<\/p>\n

To war against their neighbors,
\nAnd tribute pay for doubtful favors.
\nCodes, and edicts they design.
\nProclaiming sovereign right divine.<\/p>\n

Pickins future is looking grim,
\nA ball and chain will keep him trim.
\nTil king extracts what he deems due,
\nTil Pickins swears allegiance true.<\/p>\n

By John M Haugen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MarkStoval | A skinny fellow, name of Pickins Made a livin\u2019 raisin\u2019 chickens. Traded eggs for other stuff; He was doin\u2019 well enough. A stranger stopped by for lunch one day, When it was et, he wouldn\u2019t pay! Stranger says his name was King, And Chicken was his favorite thing. He claimed some revenue was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[294],"tags":[834],"class_list":["post-22158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22158\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}