It is not ornamental, the cost is not great, <br />There are other things far more useful, yet truly I state, <br />Though of all my possesions, there's none can compare, <br />With that white leather apron, which all Masons wear. <br /> <br />As a young lad I wondered just what it all meant, <br />When Dad hustled around, and so much time was spent <br />On shaving and dressing and looking just right, <br />Until Mother would say: 'It's the Masons tonight.' <br /> <br />And some winter nights she said: 'What makes you go, <br />Way up there tonight thru the sleet and the snow? <br />You see the same things every month of the year.' <br />Then Dad would reply: 'Yes, I know it, my dear.' <br /> <br />'Forty years I have seen the same things, it is true. <br />And though they are old, they always seem new, <br />For the hands that I clasp, and the friends that I greet, <br />Seem a little bit closer each time that we meet.' <br /> <br />Years later I stood at that very same door, <br />With good men and true who had entered before, <br />I knelt at the alter, and there I was taught <br />That virtue and honor can never be bought. <br /> <br />That the spotless white lambskin all Masons revere, <br />If worthily worn grows more precious each year, <br />That service to others brings blessings untold, <br />That man may be poor tho surrounded by gold. <br /> <br />I learned that true brotherhood flourishes there, <br />That enmities fade 'neath the compass and square, <br />That wealth and position are all thrust aside, <br />As there on the level men meet and abide. <br /> <br />So, honor the lambskin, may it always remain <br />Forever unblemished, and free from all stain, <br />And when we are called to the Great Father's love, <br />May we all take our place in that Lodge up above.<br /><br />Edgar Albert Guest<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-lamb-skin/
