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Potters Clay - An Allegorical Interlude

By Adam Lindsay Gordon

Topics: classic

Nec propter vitam vivendi perdere causas.     Though the pitcher that goes to the sparkling rill     Too oft gets broken at last,     There are scores of others its place to fill     When its earth to the earth is cast;     Keep that pitcher at home, let it never roam,     But lie like a useless clod,     Yet sooner or later the hour will come     When its chips are thrown to the sod.     Is it wise, then, say, in the waning day,     When the vessel is crackd and old,     To cherish the battered potters clay,     As though it were virgin gold?     Take care of yourself, dull, boorish elf,     Though prudent and safe you seem,     Your pitcher will break on the musty shelf,     And mine by the dazzling stream.

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Author:Adam Lindsay Gordon

"Nec propter vitam vivendi perdere causas...." by Adam Lindsay Gordon

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Adam Lindsay Gordon

About Adam Lindsay Gordon

Adam Lindsay Gordon (1833–1870) was an Australian poet, horseman, and politician. His bush ballads — "The Sick Stockrider," "How We Beat the Mace" — made him Australia's most popular poet. He is one of only two poets with a bust in Westminster Abbey's Poets' Corner.

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