I hesitate to make a list of all the countless deals I’ve missed;
Bonanzas that were in my grip– I watched through my finger slip
The windfalls which I should have Bought
Were lost because I over thought;

I thought of this, I thought of that I could have sworn I smelled a rat,
and while I thought things over twice another grabbed them at the price;
It seems I always hesitate then make up my mind much too late.
A very cautious man am I and that is why I never buy.

How Nassau and how Suffolk grew; North Jersey! Statton Island too!
When others called those sprawling farms and welcomed deals with open arms;
A corner here, ten acres there, compounding values year by year,
I chose to think and as I thought they bought the deals I should have Bought

The golden chances I had then are lost and will not come again
Today I cannot be enticed for everything’s so overpriced
The deals of yesteryear are dead the market’s soft– and so’s my head.  

Last night I had a fearful dream I know I wakened with a scream’
At times a teardrop drowns my eye for deals I had, but did not buy;
And now life’s saddest words I pen  “IF ONLY I’D INVESTED THEN!”

Farm & Land Realtor Magazine OCTOBER 1917