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| WHAT is the moral? Who rides may read. | |
| When the night is thick and the tracks are blind | |
| A friend at a pinch is a friend indeed, | |
| But a fool to wait for the laggard behind. | |
| Down to Gehenna or up to the Throne, | 5 |
| He travels the fastest who travels alone. | |
| |
| White hands cling to the tightened rein, | |
| Slipping the spur from the booted heel, | |
| Tenderest voices cry “Turn again,” | |
| Red lips tarnish the scabbarded steel, | 10 |
| High hopes faint on a warm hearth stone— | |
| He travels the fastest who travels alone. | |
| |
| One may fall but he falls by himself— | |
| Falls by himself with himself to blame. | |
| One may attain and to him is pelf— | 15 |
| Loot of the city in Gold or Fame. | |
| Plunder of earth shall be all his own | |
| Who travels the fastest and travels alone. | |
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| Wherefore the more ye be holpen and stayed | |
| Stayed by a friend in the hour of toil, | 20 |
| Sing the heretical song I have made— | |
| His be the labour and yours be the spoil. | |
| Win by his aid and the aid disown— | |
| He travels the fastest who travels alone! | |
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