As sticks of barbs now score my tender back,
Bleeding sweat adorns my fettered brow,
That all my present life then lustre lacks,
Prevailing strength is quickly slipping now.

The mighty dreams that were so strong in youth,
Now lay along the footpath of my life,
For dreams of Mice & Men are told forsooth
Now stand for naught in sight of bitter strife.

Yet how I make the mighty Gods all laugh
As on my knees I state my future plans
They take those plans,and cut them down by half
Then throw the halves into a refuse can.

This entire world is full of mice and men,
With dreams and schemes that make the sparkling eyes
But! before you can count from one to ten,
Your tender life has GONE, and so one dies.