| To be Honest and True |

To be Honest and True

My father brought me up well,
Haranguing me whenever he could,
That if I did not want to go to hell,
I should be good, honest and true,
Even when I was dejected and blue.

Whatever happened to my life,
My prospects would always be good;
Whether beset by misfortune or strife,
If my belief in honesty and truth,
Stayed with me beyond my youth.

My name would be puffed into fame,
If I did not become a thief or a knave;
Rose through deeds to the top of my game,
Acquiring wealth by fair and honest means,
And not by foul and dishonest means.

It is better to have an honest fame,
Living a modest, good and virtuous life,
Than to acquire a rich and notorious name.
It is better to feel loved at home,
Than to be revered abroad, in a foreign dome.


-- Olley Maruma

~Captures everything, so beautifully, saludos poetess..:)