A man of steel
Full of energy
Courage
Determination
Resilience
Fit as a bull moose
Roosevelt stood to give his speech
In Milwaukee
On a mild mid-October day
As he rose the crowd roared
He waved his hat in thanks
Just mere feet away
A gun was aimed directly at his heart
BANG!
A 32 caliber bullet
Penetrated his chest
Slowed by his eyeglass case
And a manuscript
A 50 page manuscript
Saving his life
He suffered only a flesh wound
Those in the crowd began to strike the shooter
"Kill this man!"
"Kill him!"
The mob punished him with blow after blow
Yet Roosevelt bellowed out
"Stop! Don't hurt him!
Bring him here, I want to see him"
The shooter came forward
Roosevelt asked "Why did you do it?"
But the shooter never responded
Roosevelt said, "Just hand him over to the police"
Today with all the division
With all the discord
With all the hate
With all the strife
Maybe we can learn something
From a man who refused vengeance on his enemy
Maybe we can learn something
From that mild October day
After the shooting
Roosevelt delivered his speech
For 84 long minutes
In courage
In determination
In fortitude
In tenacity
At the end he shouted
"It takes more than that to kill a bull moose"
