San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-02-15
POVERTY.


!. Yang Tzu, hid from life
Fled from the common world to q lonely place.
Where TO the right great wilderness touched me:
And on the left my neighbour was the Hill Of
Sung.
Beggars whose tenements
Lie wall to wall, though they be tattered and
ROugh-used. despised and scorned, are yet IN
companies
And sociable clans conjoned. But ]. for solitude
Too sorrowful, faltered at heart and cried aloud
20 Poverty come hither and talk with nc.
For should l be flung
To the utmost frontiers of space,
To the tenantess margins of the world,
Yet, wouldst thou be with me:
Thy henchman am |. o Poverty,
And thy harsh penalties, my pay.
Not in childhood only, in infancy
When laughing | would build
Castles Of soil sand vast thou
My more than neghbor, for thy roof
Touched mine, and our two homes were
But in manhood also weighed with the great
Lighter. because of thee,
Than fluff or feather, more frail my fortunes
Than gOssamer, who to the State submitting
Great worth found small employ
Withdrawing, heard no blamc
Then many years I wandered as stranger,
With these thoughts in my heart:
Others wear broidered coats; my homespun is
not whole
Others eat millet and rice. boil the fennellsaf.
No toy nor treasure is mine
Nor aught to make me glad.
The swallows by my fathers house
| Play on but | abroad the world
Sell my day-abour, pawn my coat for bread. /,
| Servant of many masters,
Hand-chafed | dig, hecl-blistered hoe,
Bare-backed to the wind and rain.
And that all this befell me-
That friends and favOurites fOrsook me.
| That up the hill of State so labourcd was my
climb
Who should bear blame? Who but thou o Pow
erty.
Was cause of all my woe?
fled thee high and far. but thou o Poverty,
| across the hills of heaven,
| Like q hawk didst follow me.
| fled thee among the rocks, in caverns Of stone
| | hid:
But thou up those huge sleeps
DdSt follow me.
| fled thee to the ocean. sailed that cypress ship
Across the storm, but thou,
Whether on wave-crest in the hollows Of the
Didst ever follow me.
And il I move, you, too are stirring;
| If | lie down, you at rest.
Have you no other friend in all the world:
What would you seek of me!
Go. Poverty! and poster me no more"
Then said Poverty, 80 be it. my master:
For It's plain that should | stay
You will not cease to SANDER and defame me-
But listen. J. too. have heart that is full
And tale that must be told.
"My fathers father long, long ago
Was iluStrious in the land: Of virtue so exceIen
That by the Kings throne in council he stood
Acknowledging the rulers how to make statute
and laws.
OF earth were the stairs, rooted over with thatcf
Not carved nor hung
But when the world in latter days
Was given over to folly. fell about in darkness
Then gluttons gathered together,
, Sought wealth and found it.
m
and proud;
Built arbours Of onyx, terraces Of Jade.
And huge halls to dwell in. Tapped lakes q
On broth Of swans they fed.
And held no Audience at their Court.
t Thrice daily would they look into their SOU
Our hearts are free from sin
c And they that dwct in the Palace Of the King
r Had great substance. and their guerdon was gol
Stacked high the hills.
Your small woes You remember;
. But my blest deeds you have forgot
Did l not teach you,
= Summers heat and winters cold?
(And that which neither heat nor cold ca
i Is it not eternal as the Gods?)
2 II Poverty.
], Turned from YOU the envy Of the covetous, tausI
:. Neither Chioh the Tyrant nor the Robber Chi
; Others my master,
Quake behind bolt and bar; while you alone
Ii Live open to the world
E Others by care
u And pitiful apprehension cast down,
t While YOU are gay and free"
= Thus spoke Poverty, and when her speech W
d ended.
S Stern Of Countenance and with dilated eye.
I She gathered up the folds If her garments al
from where she sat
l. Passed down the stairway and left nv house.
, Farewell" said Poverty. "for now | leave 20
! To that hill I take my way,
Re Where sheltering, the Lord of Kuchu's sons
Have learnt to My my trade"
Then l. Yang Tzu, left the mat where lay
&c And cried 40 Poverty. let nv crooked words
I BE unSpoken; forget that ] have wrongPd tn
/ have heard truth q Poverty. and received
r Live with me always. for Of your company
E | shall not weary till | die
Then Poverty came back and dwrit with me,
eT Nor since has left my side
1 Rv YANG HsiuDp Id;o6 A ID 1871,