Pale as death hast thou become,
But take comfort, thou’rt at home;
Warm as by the household hearth
Lie we under German earth.
Many others, who fell lame,
Home again, alas! ne’er came,
Though they yearningly implored,—
O have pity, gracious Lord!
5. RASCALITY.
Rich people only can be won
By open, barefaced flattery;
Money is flat, my worthy son,
And needs must flatly flatter’d be.
The box of incense swing with zeal
Before all worshipp’d golden calves:
In dust and mire with meekness kneel,
And, above all, ne’er praise by halves.
The price of bread this year is high,
Fine words we lavish all in vain;
Mecænas’ dog to praise, then, try,
And earn a bellyful again.
6. RETROSPECT.
The pearl for the first, and the case for the second,—
O William Wisetzki, thy days were soon reckon’d,
But the Kitten, the Kitten was saved.[82]
The beam that he clung to, that stretch’d o’er the current
Beneath him broke down, and he sank in the torrent,
But the Kitten, the Kitten was saved.