Classic Poem

XXXI.

“I know not who can better learn
Than one who lives so long as I,
Who all life long have tried to earn
And still have set my earnings by.

XXXII.

“And I have seen a many score
Of men and women laid in earth;
I mostly, too, can tell them o'er,
And all their prosperings, up from birth.

XXXIII.

“And always I have seen with all
That thriftiest heads are honored most;
And those who into misery fall,
By them respect is quickly lost.

XXXIV.

“A man who gains and keeps together,
Is like the tree that yearly grows,
That, stout and strong in wintry weather,
A goodly crop in summer shows:

XXXV.

“But he who spends and wastes away,
Is like a tree decayed within;
Though still the leaves and bloom be gay,
Its top will soon be shrunk and thin.

XXXVI.

“Or see the gleaner winnowing grain,
The empty chaff goes flying;
The plump, full, yellow seeds remain,
Like gold for profit lying.

XXXVII.

“The chaff may glitter in the sun,
And dance before the wind,
But I would rather look upon
The quiet heap behind.

XXXVIII.

“What some within an hour would spend,
The wise man takes a day to win;
But when the waste has reached an end
The gains of thrift are coming in.

XXXIX.

“And ever I have seen that they
Who least had cause to fear the morrow,
Have cheeriest walked the open way,
Nor hung their heads in sorrow.

XL.

“Who does not feel how hard the thought
For one whose life must soon be o'er,
That all his days have added nought,
But still made less men's little store?