S.T.O.P!

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S. T. O. P.

Ages ago, when cars were raked and chopped,

There weren’t cell phones or games to be shopped,

And many young kids took the time to drag Main,

Whether the night was clear or pouring rain,

It was a time of confusion and serious doubt,

Where should young kids go if they wanted to hang out?

During this period lived three Signs of the time,

I know this is weird but their names do not rhyme,

Stop lived with his two brothers, Yield, and Slow,

And hung out at corners where most people go,

Stop grew tired of being ignored like you might expect,

People waved at him but they showed little respect,

Some raced through without thought of danger,

Some turned off their lights at intersections, (even stranger)

Stop thought it could happen one day that cars crashed,

He thought cars should halt before someone got mashed,

But Slow and Yield argued and could not agree,

Just reducing the speed was enough, they said, just wait and see,

The brothers searched for solutions all through the night,

And finally they were all happy by dawn’s early light,

Slow would show first, and Yield would be next,

Stop would wait patiently to keep cars from wrecks,

Slow and Yield were respected and rarely got blame,

But Stop stirred up some who made fun of his name,

His name was used as an acronym for many phrases,

But Stop grew to accept them as they went through phases,

1.  Stop Teasing Our Police

2.  Squeal Tires on Pavement

3.  Start to Open Presents

4.  Start the Oprah Program

5.  Stop Testing Our Patience

6.  Stop Telling on People

Stop became well known and recognized by all,

It wasn’t because he was handsome or nine feet tall,

Stop’s sign wasn’t common or made from a riddle,

His sign was a red octagon with his name in the middle,

Slow with a rectangle and Yield with sides of three,

The brothers were happy, as happy as can be.