Classic Poem

The Lords of Karma deal the cards,
But the game we play in our own way:
Now as for me, and as regards
The gain or loss from day to day,
I go detached; I mean to say
That I live largely as I please,
Whether it does or does not pay
Among the inequalities.

With duties not too much engrossed,
With profits not too much concerned,
Not to glean to the uttermost,
Nor grieve for what I might have earned,
This for my soul's sake I have learned,
Reaching for sweeter things than these:
Pennies and fractions I have spurned
Among the inequalities.

O, damnable palavering
Of pedagogues too regular!
I'd rather be a tramp, or sing
For my living at a bar,
Or peddle peanuts, far by far,
Than lose my reasonable ease
In tow of rule and calendar
Among the inequalities.

Content if I may go a bit
In my own way before I cease;
Living trimly by my wit
Among the inequalities.