Click in the field, then press CTRL+C to copy the HTML code
The Good Of It
A Cynic's Song.
SOME men strut proudly, all purple and gold,
Hiding queer deeds 'neath a cloak of good fame;
I creep along, braving hunger and cold,
To keep my heart stainless as well as my name;
So, so, where is the good of it?
Some clothe bare Truth in fine garments of words,
Fetter her free limbs with cumbersome state:
With me, let me sit at the lordliest boards,
'I love' means I love, and 'I hate' means I hate,
But, but, where is the good of it?
Some have rich dainties and costly attire,
Guests fluttering round them and duns at the door:
I crouch alone at my plain board and fire,
Enjoy what I pay for and scorn to have more.
Yet, yet, where is the good of it?
Some gather round them a phalanx of friends,
Scattering affection like coin in a crowd;
I keep my heart for the few that heaven sends,
Where they'll find their names writ when I lie in my shroud.
Still, still, where is the good of it?
Some toy with love, lightly come, lightly go,
A blithe game at hearts, little worth, little cost:--
I staked my whole soul on one desperate throw,
A life 'gainst an hour's sport. We played' and I--lost
Ha, ha, such was the good of it!
Moral: Added On His Death-Bed
TURN the Past's mirror backward. Its shadows removed,
The dim confused mass becomes softened, sublime:
I have worked--I have felt--I have lived--I have loved,
And each was a step towards the goal I now climb:
Thou, God, Thou sawest the good of it.
poem
by
Dinah Maria Mulock Craik
solid border
dashed border
dotted border
double border
groove border
ridge border
inset border
outset border
no border
blue
green
red
purple
cyan
gold
silver
black