The Stern Road

If I'd the right (said old George Jones)
To tax a country till it groans,
   An' take an' levy tribute when I shouldn't;
You think that I'd be toilin' here,
Pinchin' an' savin' year on year?
   Well, p'raps I would; an' p'raps again I wouldn't.
 
For human nature's awful weak,
And men were evr prone to seek
   The easy way; an' it ain't so surprisin'
That men, or Gover'ments, should dash
Along the easy path to cash
   Before the hard road to economisin'.
 
There's few will take the uphill road
Unless there be the whip an' goad
   Of need, of stern necesity to twist 'em.
But where the downhill track runs straight
All are inclined to gravitate.
   An' there's the rub with all our social system.
 
If I'd the pow'r (said old George Jones)
To tax, an' live on easy loans,
   Well, p'raps I would be stern an' labor lovin',
And p'raps I might be strong an' brave
An' eager all the time to save,
   But not, I think, till someone done some shovin'.