C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

The Old Farmer’s Advice to his Son

Translation of Charles Timothy Brooks

MY son, be honest truth thy guide,

And to thy dying day

Turn not a finger’s breadth aside

From God’s appointed way.

Then shall thy pilgrim pathway lie

Through meadows sunny-green;

Then shalt thou look on death with eye

Unshrinking and serene:

Then shall the pathway to thy tomb

By frequent feet be trod,

And summer flowers of sweet perfume

Spring from the moistened sod;

For oft shall children’s children, led

By fond affection’s care,

At evening seek thy grave, and shed

The tear of sorrow there.