Toddlekins by O. Henry — Read

Toddlekins climbed up the long, long stair; / Chubby and fat and round was he; / With rosy cheeks and curling hair, / Jolly and fair and gay was he. / Toddlekins knocked on the office door; / Within at a desk a stern man sat; / Wrote with a pen while a frown he wore, / When he heard on the door a rat-tat-tat. / Toddlekins cried, "Oh please let me in! / I've come to see you, the door is fast! " / Oh, voice so soft, it will surely win / The heart of the stern, cold man at last! / But he heeded not the pleading cry / Of Toddlekins out on the lonely stair; / And Toddlekins left with a sorrowful sigh, / Toddlekins round, and chubby and fair, / Oh, man so stem, when you stand and plead / At the door of your Father's house on high; / What if he, merciless, pay no heed; / Pitiless, turns from your helpless cry! / But the man wrote on with a stony stare; / He was an editor, poor and ill; / And Toddlekins, chubby and round and fair, / Was a butcher that brought a big meat bill.