Europe might quake in convulsions most critical—
I had my bread buttered well on both sides.
Now must I wander for themes for my puny verse
Over earth’s continents, islands and seas;
Small stock I took of affairs of the universe,
When I wore petticoats down to my knees!
Life is a puzzle and man is a mystery,
He that would solve them a wizard need be;
Precepts lie thick in the pathways of history,
This is the lesson that life has taught me.