Forget It

If you see a tall fellow ahead of a crowd,

A leader of men, marching fearless and proud,

And you know of a tale whose mere telling aloud

Would cause his proud head to in anguish be bowed,

It’s a pretty good plan to forget it.

If you know of a skeleton hidden away

In a closet, and guarded and kept from the day

In the dark, and whose showing, whose sudden display,

Would cause grief and sorrow and lifelong dismay,

It’s a pretty good plan to forget it.

If you know of a thing that will darken the joy

Of a man or a woman, a girl or a boy,

That will wipe out a smile, or the least way annoy

A fellow, or cause any gladness to cloy,

It’s a pretty good plan to forget it.

-      
J. Mortimer Lewis[1]

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[1] Judd Mortimer Lewis was born in Fulton, New York in 1867. His parents were Charles Steven and Arabelle Elizabeth (Kenyon) Lewis. His family soon moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where he attended grade school. The family had financial difficulties, and he had to quit school early; by age 14 he was supporting himself. As he grew up, Lewis was employed variously as an ox-driver, road grader, and a mechanic in various lines, as a brass finisher, and a foundry man. At age 26, he moved to Houston, Texas. A year later, he married his boyhood sweetheart, Mary Bartley. They had two daughters.

Lewis began his career as a stereotyper with the A. N. Kellogg Newspaper Company and later served as branch manager. The onset of the Spanish-American War made him interested in writing. In 1898 he went to work for The Houston Post. His poetry was immediately popular, and soon he was publishing collections: Sing the South (1905); Lilts 0’ Love (1906); The Old Wash Place (1912); Toddle-Town Trails (1914); and Christmas Day (1917). He also wrote prose and humorous syndicated stories, such as Patsy Kildare Outlaw, and Jubilee’s Pardner. He contributed to various magazines and newspapers; eventually he became a vice president and director at The Houston Post. Outside of literary circles, Lewis was widely known for “baby bureau” work, in which he was instrumental in placing more than two hundred babies in adoptive homes.

Baylor University gave him an honorary doctoral degree in literature in 1920. In 1932, the Texas legislature appointed him the first Poet Laureate of Texas. He was a life member and one-time vice president of the American Folklore Society. He was also a life member and ex-president of theTexas Press Association. Lewis died in 1945.  (Source: lewispoetry.com)