Monday Morning Blues; One Meatball

Josh White · One Meatball

The little man walked up and down.
To find an eating place in town.
He read the menu through and through.
To see what 15 cents could do.
One meatball, one meatball,
He could afford but one meatball.

Little man felt so ill at ease,
He said: "Some bread Sir, if you please."
The waiter hollered down the hall:
"You get no bread with your one meatball!"
One meatball, none meatball,
He could afford but one meatball.

∞

"O Bhikkhus, if beings knew, as I know, the result of giving and sharing, they would not eat without having given, nor would they allow the stain of meanness to obsess them and take root in their minds. Even if it were their last morsel, their last mouthful, they would not eat without having shared it, if there were someone to share it with. But, bhikkhus, as beings do not know, as I know, the result of giving and sharing, they eat without having given, and the stain of meanness obsesses them and takes root in their minds."

-Buddha § 26. Giving {Iti 1.26; Iti 18}