Bewick Finzer

Time was when his half million drew
 The breath of six per cent;
But soon the worm of what-was-not
 Fed hard on his content;
And something crumbled in his brain
 When his half million went.

Time passed, and filled along with his
 The place of many more;
Time came, and hardly one of us
 Had credence to restore,
From what appeared one day, the man
 Whom we had known before.

The broken voice, the withered neck,
 The coat worn out with care,
The cleanliness of indigence,
 The brilliance of despair,
The fond imponderable dreams
 Of affluence, -- all were there.

Poor Finzer, with his dreams and schemes,
 Fares hard now in the race,
With heart and eye that have a task
 When he looks in the face
Of one who might so easily
 Have been in Finzer's place.

He comes unfailing for the loan
 We give and then forget;
He comes, and probably for years
 Will he be coming yet, --
Familiar as an old mistake,
 And futile as regret.