 | Songs of A Wayfarer |  |
133
CXLII. FAME AND HONOUR.
Passing along the broad high road one dayI met two maidens: one True Worth was hight,
And one was Modesty: both clothed in white.
And other two went with them by the way,
Haughty of look and clad in brave array,
With tawdry ribbons and false gems bedight;
And this a gilded sceptre bore upright,
And on the narrow brows of that there lay
A tinsel crown hung round with bells whose chime
With tinkling music ever waited on her:
Then asked I: Who are these? And Worth replied
(Whilst Modesty bent down her head, and sighed,
Stung with deep shame for the degenerate time
So fallen): That is Fame and this is Honour.
| Songs of A Wayfarer | |