Their pride, their honour, stands between them and success.
That barrier, unseen, ’s than iron firmer still.
An axe can hew through iron; not through stubborn will.20
A bond of iron may be broken by due means;
A moral bond is what holds firmest, where it leans.
A bee, a wasp, may sting one to the very quick;
Yet may the same be warded by precaution’s trick.
But what’s to do when sting is in our very selves?
The pain is then most biting, deeper far it delves.
Unwillingly has leaped this subject from my mind.