The common phrase 'a dog's life' has
A most persuasive ring:
But dogs can do the things they like;
A slave obeys his king.
He must be chaste, sleep hard, grow thin,
And eat a meager dinner:
The servant lives as lives the saint,
Yet is not saint, but sinner.
He cannot do the things he would;
He serves another's mind;
He sells his body. How can such
A wretch contentment find?
According to the lesser distance,
A servant uses more persistence
In watching for his master's whim
And trembling at the sight of him:
And this because a fire, a king,
Are double name for single thing,
A burning thing that men can stand
Afar, but not too close at hand.
What flavor has a tidbit, though
It be as good as good,
Soft, dainty, melting in the mouth,
If bought by servitude?
To sum it all up:
What is my place? My time? My friends?
Expenditure or dividends?
And what am I? And what my power?
So must one ponder hour by hour."
After listening to this, Lively said, perceiving that Victor had a hidden purpose in mind: "Tell me, my
