A hundred counsels, when a life
Obeys no rigid rule;
A hundred cogent arguments
Are lost upon a fool.
Lost is every gift that goes
Where it does not fit;
Lost is service lavished on
Sluggish mind and wit;
Lost upon ingratitude
Is the kindest plan;
Lost is courtesy on one
Not a gentleman.
Or put it this way:
Perfume offered to a corpse,
Lotus-planting dry,
Weeping in the wood, prolonged
Rain on alkali,
Taking kinks from doggy's tail,
Drawl in deafened ear,
Decking faces of the blind,
Sense for fools to hear.
Or this way:
Milk a bull, and think him some
Heavy-uddered cow;
Blind to lovely maidens, clasp
Eunuchs anyhow;
Seek in shining scraps of quartz
Lapis lazuli:
Do not serve an addlepate,
Bidding sense goodbye.
"Ergo, the master must by no means fail to heed my sound advice. And one thing more:
