The Two Princes Poem by Kator Lutso

‎Two princes, noble born, at break of day,
‎Set forth at once along an unknown way;
‎No mortal knew what end their path might claim,
‎Yet side by side they strode as one in aim.
‎
‎But when the rising sun first kissed the morn,
‎One prince beheld the joys of life newborn;
‎With longing heart he stayed his steps to taste
‎The fleeting pleasures time does swiftly waste.
‎
‎Whilst on his course the other did proceed,
‎Unmoved by charms or by delay's sweet lure.
‎So parted they though bound in blood and name,
‎And each pressed on toward a different fate.
‎
‎Before the dusk the loiterer rose anew,
‎Yet found no brother walking in his view;
‎His trembling hands by time's cruel art defaced,
‎Spoke of long years in but a moment's span.
‎
‎Before him stood a hill both steep and grim,
‎Whose shadow fell upon his waning hope;
‎Too frail was he to climb its rugged face,
‎And stumbled in the grip of coming night.
‎
‎He cried unto his kin, but none replied,
‎For he had reached the farther, brighter side;
‎Thus there he lay, with sorrow for his song,
‎Confessing squandered time had done him wrong.
‎
‎'O would I had not squandered what was lent, '
‎Too late the truth upon his spirit bent.
‎'For now I am what time has left undone,
‎And sink at last in sorrow's endless sleep.'