Robert Browning

“ The better the uncouther:
Do roses stick like burrs?
II.
A beggar asked an alms
One day at an abbey door,
Said Luther; but, seized with qualms,
The Abbot replied, "We're poor!"
III.
"Poor, who had plenty once,
When gifts fell thick as rain:
But they give us nought, for the nonce,
And how should we give again?" ”