The Twins
“Give” and “It-shall-be-given-unto-you”
1
Grand rough old Martin Luther
Bloomed fables-flowers on furze,
The better the uncouther:
Do roses stick like burrs?
2
A beggar asked an alms
One day at an abbey-door,
Said Luther; but, seized with qualms,
The abbot replied, “We’re poor!”
3
“Poor, who had plenty once,
When gifts fell thick as rain:
But they give us nought, for the nonce,
And now should we give again?”
4
Then the beggar, “See your sins!
Of old, unless I err,
Ye had brothers for inmates, twins,
Date and Dabitur.
5
“While Date was in good case
Dabitur flourished too:
For Dabitur’s lenten face
No wonder if Date rue.
6
“Would ye retrieve the one?
Try and make plump the other!
When Date’s penance is done,
Dabitur helps his brother.
7
“Only, beware relapse!”
The Abbot hung his head.
This beggar might be perhaps
An angel, Luther said.
Other works by Robert Browning...
