The Masterful Apprentices

The masterful apprentices
grew wise as dust and twice as strong.
They knocked the talent of my dreams.
Who said the knave would fortify the ether?

Bid fair, bid fair, the coster cried,
brimming the solace in her cup,
the master yawned and drained his joy,
and devils roared beyond the stars.

Too late the hay too soon the frost,
too empty all the dying sails,
too bad the harvest rots the worm,
too many deaths too few rewards.

Herbert Williams

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