A little lady named Jules in a softball cap

Little girl, in a softball cap Stands in the field with her ball and bat Says I am the greatest player of them all Puts her bat on her shoulder and she tosses up her ball

And the ball goes up and the ball comes down Swings her bat all the way around The world's so still you can hear the sound The softball falls to the ground

Now the little girl doesn't say a word Picks up her ball, she is undeterred Says I am the greatest there has ever been And she grits her teeth and she tries it again

And the ball goes up and the ball comes down Swings her bat all the way around The world's so still you can hear the sound The softball falls to the ground

She makes no excuses, She shows no fears See just closes her eyes and listens to the cheers

Little girl, adjusts her cap Picks up her ball, stares at her bat Says I am the greatest the game is on the line And she gives her all one last time

And the ball goes up like the moon so bright Swings her bat with all her might And the world's so still as still can be And the softball falls, and that's strike three

Now it's supper time and her mother calls Little girl starts home with her bat and ball Says I am the greatest that is a fact But even I didn't know I could pitch like that

She says I am the greatest that is understood but even I didn't know I could pitch that good.

rewritten from the Kenny Rogers song about a little boy for Jules

A poem about my father...composed the day he died in 1955

I would reall like to get to know you better today
But I am so very busy and don’t have time to stay
I would really like to get to know you better today
But your home is so very very many blocks away
I would really like to get to know you better today
I would really like to get to know you better today
But I have to drive to the metro to see a neat play
I would really like to get to know you better today
But you died in your sleep before the break of day.
jdm01/01/04
I was 18, a senior in HS at Bromide, Oklahoma and his death devestated me. This poem comes from thoughts and verse that day composed over the fifty years since and finally written down in 2004. I loved and admired my father who was a champion competitive runner and cowboy. I updated the poem for modern consumption. He has about a hundred offspring in Oklahoma counting in laws and woods colts.