My Old Coat.

“Sois-moi fidèle, ô pauvre habit que j’aime.”
Béranger.

BE ever true to me, thou well-loved coat,

For we are growing old together now,

These ten long years I’ve brushed thee every day

Myself; great Socrates the Sage, I trow

Had not done better! And if remorseless Fate

Gnaw with sharp tooth that poor, thin cloth of thine,