When next the occasion calls. I shall pursue
The path that grim experience has taught."
This was his solace, this his saving thought.
Then came a sudden knocking at the door.
He rose—and did what he had done before:
He looked into the dark, he flinched, he quailed;
The occasion came, and once again he failed.
Thus wrote a man who had seen much of men:
"What man hath done, that will he do again."
Yet are there souls who, having clinched with fate,
Have learned to live, ere it was all too late.
Be it thy hope, tho' seven times a fool,
To get some lessons in life's fearful school.
"HE PONDERED WELL"
He pondered well, looked in his heart,
And bravely did his part.
Then spake the Ironic Powers
That rule the prostrate hours:
"Look now on this your deed;—
Despite your heroic creed,
Your pondering and your prayers,
Behold how ill the pretty project fares!
Not hotly were you driven;
For thought and thought the days were seven;
All was wisdom, all was cool—
And now one name you to yourself have given:
'T is fool, fool, fool, and only fool!"
Hast thou kept honor, and sweet courtesy kept,
Then is no loss that may be wailed or wept.
