Classic Poem

To live in court among the crew is care;
Is nothing there but daily diligence;
Nor cap nor knee nor money must thou spare:
The prince's hall is place of great expense.

In rotten ribbed bark to pass the seas,
The foreign lands and strangy seas to see,
Doth danger dwell; the passage breeds unease,
Nor safe the soil; the men unfriendly be.

Admit thou see the strangest things of all:
When eye is turned the pleasant sight is gone.
The treasure then of travel is but small.
Wherefore (friend P.) let all such toys alone.

To shake the bones, and cog the crafty dice,
To card in care of sudden loss of pence,
Unseemly is, and taken for a vice:
Unlawful play can have no good pretence.

To band the ball doth cause the coin to waste:
It melts as butter doth against the sun.
Naught save thy pain, when play doth cease, thou hast.
To study, then, is best when all is done;
For study stays and brings a pleasant gain,
When play doth pass as glare with gushing rain.