free-verse17 lines
A Reply To A Young Lady.
by James Barron Hope"I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done
Than to be one of the twenty to follow my own teaching,"
- Merchant of Venice.
"Do as I tell you, and not as I do."
- Old Saying.
You say, a "moral sign-post" I
Point out the road towards the sky;
And then with glance so very shy
You archly ask me, lady, why
I hesitate myself to go
In the direction which I show?
To answer is an easy task,
If you allow me but to ask
One little question, sweet, of you: -
'Tis this: should sign-posts travel too
What would bewildered pilgrims do -
Celestial pilgrims, such as you?