Of the Feigned Friend by Sir Thomas Wyatt

Of the Feigned Friend
by Sir Thomas Wyatt

Right true it is, and said full yore ago:
Take heed of him, that by the back thee claweth.
For, none is worse, than is a friendly foe.
Though he seem good, all thing that thee delighteth,
Yet know it well, that in thy bosom creepeth.
For, many a man such fire oft times he kindleth:
That with the blaze his beard himself he singeth.

Richard Cory by Edwin Arlington Robinson

Richard Cory
by Edwin Arlington Robinson

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich, richer than a king,
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.