Explore "The Reckoning" by Robert W. Service on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
It's fine to have a blowout in a fancy restaurant, / With terrapin and canvasback and all the wine you want; / To enjoy the flowers and music, watch the pretty women pass, / Smoke a choice cigar, and sip the wealthy water in your glass; / It's bully in a high-toned joint to eat and drink your fill, / But it's quite another matter when you / Pay the bill.
It's great to go out every night on fun or pleasure bent, / To wear your glad rags always, and to never save a cent; / To drift along regardless, have a good time every trip; / To hit the high spots sometimes, and to let your chances slip; / To know you're acting foolish, yet to go on fooling still, / Till Nature calls a showdown, and you / Pay the bill.
Time has got a little bill -- get wise while yet you may, / For the debit side's increasing in a most alarming way; / The things you had no right to do, the things you should have done, / They're all put down: it's up to you to pay for every one.
So eat, drink, and be merry, have a good time if you will, / But God help you when the time comes, and you / Foot the bill.