My mother used to say to me when I was just a tot
“You go like a bull at a gate” and go on to reproach me more:
I was some years older, when believe it or not
I realised that this phrase was not one word,"bullatagate".
For years I did wonder about this much used word;
I could not find it in the dictionary no matter how I tried:
And yet it was repeated and often by me heard;
Could it be some animal to whom it was applied?
I realised that this word with speed was associated,
As I was a whizz at doing things with expediency.
In fact every chore with which I was designated
Was by me completed almost immediately.
It did not take me long to elucidate,
The word was not employed for praise,
And criticism would be my fate
If I did not improve my much rushed ways.
Eventually all was revealed by one thing or another,
That this extraordinary word was four not one
Alas for me it was too late to recover,
And so I do to this day “go like a bull at a gate”