THE YOUTH AND THE OLD MAN.
FLORIAN.
“Old man,” said an ambitious youth one day
“Show me the path to wealth and fame, I pray.”
Answering not, the old man mused awhile,
His thin lips wreathing with a cynic smile,
Then spoke: “Is fame thy wish? With earnest zeal
Devote thyself to serve the commonweal;
To her give all thy talents and thy time,
The flush of youth, and vigorous manhood’s prime;
And should the foeman come with deadly strife,
In her defence be swift to lose thy life,
Perchance with ‘failure’ branded on thy heart.
The road to wealth is surer; seek the mart,
Where cunning money-changers lie in wait,
Casting their nets with watered stocks for bait.
Or join the nobler throng, whose argosies
Bear on white wings across the distant seas
The honest——” “Hold, old man, I’ll none of these;
With intrigue and deceit I would not soil
My soul, and yet I shrink from sordid toil.”
Again the old man mused in silence while
Around his mouth hovered a cynic smile,
Then answered thus: “Why, simply be a fool,
And win both fame and wealth, in spite of rule.”