Which Nut?

 

 

 

There are many nuts in a car

That always come into play

And this is when that car is driven

Each and every day.

 

There are nuts to hold the wheel

Securely into place

And there’re nuts in minute places

Sometimes difficult to trace.

 

There are nuts to hold the seats

So they don’t shift from where they are

And there are nuts in lots of places;

That’s the makeup of a car.

 

 

Central to the steering wheel

There is a critically important nut

For without it I tell you, my friend,

We’d be in a serious rut.

 

But the most important nut

Is the nut behind the wheel,

Not the nut that holds it securely

But the nut that controls speed.

 

Few collisions are caused,

They tell me, by mechanical failure,

Instead, most are due, my friend,

To the driver’s behaviour.

 

 

This is the nut I mean

Just in case you had not picked up,

The nut behind the wheel

Is the most crucial nut.

 

In conclusion I say,

As to one and all I appeal,

It’s not the nut in the steering column

But the nut behind the wheel.

 

Stewart Russell (c) March 24, 2022