Pessimist And Optimist
By Thomas Bailey Aldrich
This one sits shivering in Fortune's smile,
Taking his joy with bated, doubtful breath:
This other, gnawed by hunger, all the while
Laughs in the teeth of Death.
Source Book
Flower And Thorn: Later Poems
by Thomas Bailey Aldrich
Copyright 1876
Published by James R. Osgood And Company, Boston