The Two Boys Poteet 2019 1B by Mary Lamb Lyrics

I saw a boy with eager eye
Open a book upon a stall,
and read as he'd devour it all;
Which when the stall-man did espy,
Soon to the boy I heard him call,
'You, Sir, you never buy a book,
Therefore in one you shall not look.'
The boy passed slowly on, and with a sigh
He wished he had never been taught to read,
Then of the old churl's book he should have had no need.


Of suffering the poor have many,
Which never the rich can annoy.
I soon perceived another boy
Who looked as if he'd had not any
Food for that day at least, enjoy
The sight of cold meat in a tavern larder.
The boy's case, thought I, is surely harder,
Thus hungry longing, thus without a penny,
Beholding choice of dainty dressed meat;
No wonder if he'd wish he ne'er had learned to eat.