WISHFUL to add to my mental power, Avid of knowledge and wisdom, I Pondered the Essays of Schopenhauer, Taking his terrible hills on high. Worried I was, and a trifle shy, Fearful I'd find him a bit opaque! Thus does he say, with a soul-sick sigh: "The best you get is an even break." Life, he says, is awry and sour; Life, he adds, is sour and awry; Love, he says, is a withered flower; Love, he adds, is a dragon-fly; Love, he swears, is the Major Lie; Life, he vows, is the Great Mistake; No one can beat it, and few can tie. The best you get is an even break. Women, he says, are clouds that lower; Women dissemble and falsify. (Those are things that The Conning Tower Cannot asseverate or deny.) Futile to struggle, and strain, and try; Pleasure is freedom from pain and ache; The greatest thing you can do is die— The best you get is an even break. L'ENVOI Gosh! I feel like a real good cry! Life, he says, is a cheat, a fake. Well, I agree with the grouchy guy— The best you get is an even break. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A PLANTATION BACCHANAL by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON THE HARD TIMES IN ELFLAND; A STORY OF CHRISTMAS EVE by SIDNEY LANIER THE ARAB by CHARLES STUART CALVERLEY HE FELL AMONG THIEVES by HENRY JOHN NEWBOLT IDYLLS OF THE KING: MERLIN AND VIVIEN by ALFRED TENNYSON THE ARTILLERYMAN'S VISION by WALT WHITMAN |