Text:
For two years he lived
in sullen humors,
his mistress
trade
and tools.
Little man,
uninspired—
He never went out
but
he had great plans.
He
lacked energy.
He desired to live from
one year
to another.
Sour diligence withered,
sunflower in frost.
Poem found in Thomas B. Costain’s The Silver Chalice, published in 1952 by Doubleday & Company.