Classic Poem

Spectators only on this bustling stage,
We see what vain designs mankind engage.
Vice after vice with ardour they pursue,
And one old folly brings forth twenty new.
Perplexed with trifles through the vale of life,
Man strives 'gainst man, without a cause for strife;
Armies embattled meet, and thousands bleed,
For some vile spot which cannot fifty feed.
Squirrels for nuts contend, and, wrong or right,
For the world's empire kings ambitious fight.
What odds? — to us 'tis all the self-same thing,
A nut, a world, a squirrel, and a king.