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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


WORKS AND DAYS: GOOD DAYS AND BAD (2) by HESIOD

First Line: SUCH ARE THE STATED DAYS THAT BRING GREAT PROFIT TO MEN
Last Line: JUDGING THE OMENS OF BIRDS, SHUNNING THE PATHS OF SIN.

Such are the stated days that bring great profit to men;
All the others are shifty, unpredestinate, thin:
Men have favourite days, but few men know aright;
One step-motherly day will come like a mother again:
Blest in his days and rich he is, who has in his ken
All these things, as he toils blameless in heaven's sight,
Judging the omens of birds, shunning the paths of sin.



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