A Hen House Quinns

A Hen-house

Say, gentlemen, does it make a hen-house,

For the mere fact that man has crept into it

On a rainy day to avoid getting wet, a palace?

Must he that has crept into the hen-house,

Then, call it a mansion out of gratitude to it?

No, sirs, for man had better live in a palace!

A hen-house is only as good as a mansion,

For he that only lives to keep out of the rain,

Not to whom this is not the only object in life.

Or should man feign comfort outside a mansion,

Because the hen-house kept him from the rain?

A man’s desires are the foundations of his life.

Man mustn't accept as the crown of his desires,

A recurring lesser object simply because it exists,

A recurring zero, however consistent, is still a zero.

But if it must be that man gives up his desires,

Let it not be for anything less because it exists,

He’s better off with his ideals than a rational zero.

©Quinns