Explore "The Squanderer" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
God gave him passions, splendid as the sun, / Meant for the lordliest purposes; a part / Of nature's full and fertile mother heart, / From which new systems and new stars are spun. / And now, behold, behold, what he has done! / In Folly's court and carnal Pleasures' mart / He flung the wealth life gave him at the start. / (This, of all mortal sins, the deadliest one.)
At dawn he stood, potential, opulent, / With virile manhood, and emotions keen, / And wonderful with God's creative fire. / At noon he stands, with Love's large fortune spent / In petty traffic, unproductive, mean- / A pauper, cursed with impotent desire.