TO Sodom and Gomorrah on the plain
Was sent a fiery storm of brimstone rain;
When o’er the towns the fearful torrent burst,
One was destroyed, the other was my first.
My last we waste and spend, but cannot save;
And on it we ’ll be carried to our grave.
My whole the rich and poor alike may claim,
But soon it will possess another name.
[29]
TO win my first men struggle all their lives,—
Yet willingly present it to their wives.
The wise man no great fortune has amassed,
But lives his life contented with my last.
An infant is my whole at early age;
And Lot’s wife was my whole on Scripture’s page.