So rough the goat will scratch, it cannot sleep. <br />So often goes the pot to the well that it breaks. <br />So long you heat iron, it will glow; <br />so heavily you hammer it, it shatters. <br />So good is the man as his praise; <br />so far he will go, and he's forgotten; <br />so bad he behaves, and he's despised. <br />So loud you cry Christmas, it comes. <br /> <br />So glib you talk, you end up in contradictions. <br />So good is your credit as the favors you got. <br />So much you promise that you will back out. <br />So doggedly you beg that your wish is granted; <br />so high climbs the price when you want a thing; <br />so much you want it that you pay the price; <br />so familiar it gets to you, you want it no more. <br />So loud you cry Christmas, it comes. <br /> <br />So, you love a dog. Then feed it! <br />So long a song will run that people learn it. <br />So long you keep the fruit, it will rot. <br />So hot the struggle for a spot that it is won; <br />so cool you keep your act that your spirit freezes; <br />so hurriedly you act that you run into bad luck; <br />so tight you embrace that your catch slips away. <br />So loud you cry Christmas, it comes. <br /> <br />So you scoff and laugh, and the fun is gone. <br />So you crave and spend, and lose your shirt. <br />So candid you are, no blow can be too low. <br />So good as a gift should a promise be. <br />So, if you love God, you obey the Church. <br />So, when you give much, you borrow much. <br />So, shifting winds turn to storm. <br />So loud you cry Christmas, it comes. <br /> <br />Prince, so long as a fool persists, he grows wiser; <br />so, round the world he goes, but return he will, <br />so humbled and beaten back into servility. <br />So loud you cry Christmas, it is here.<br /><br />François Villon<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-ballad-of-the-proverbs/
