Proverbs

¹ Can you hear Madame Insight raising her voice?

² at the busiest intersection.

³ where the traffic is thickest, she shouts,

⁴ everyone out here on the streets!

⁵ You blockheads—shape up!

⁶ I'm telling you how to live at your best.

⁷ I can't stand the taste of evil!

⁸ not one syllable will be twisted or skewed.

⁹ truth-ready minds will see it at once.

¹⁰ and God-knowledge over a lucrative career.

¹¹ nothing you could wish for holds a candle to her.

¹² Knowledge and Discretion live just down the street.

¹³ whose ways I hate with a passion— pride and arrogance and crooked talk.

¹⁴ I am both Insight and the Virtue to live it out.

¹⁵ and lawmakers legislate fairly;

¹⁶ along with all in legitimate authority.

¹⁷ those who look for me find me.

¹⁸ also substantial Honor and a Good Name.

¹⁹ the returns on me exceed any imaginable bonus.

²⁰ at the intersection of Justice Avenue,

²¹ filling their arms with life—armloads of life!

²² before he did anything else.

²³ well before Earth got its start.

²⁴ yes, even before Springs and Rivers and Lakes.

²⁵ I was already there, newborn;

²⁶ and tended to the minute details of Soil and Weather,

²⁷ I was there. When he mapped and gave borders to wild Ocean,

²⁸ and installed the fountains that fed Ocean,

²⁹ posted a sign that said, no trespassing, And then staked out Earth's foundations,

³⁰ Day after day I was there, with my joyful applause, always enjoying his company,

³¹ happily celebrating the human family.

³² those who embrace these my ways are most blessed.

³³ don't squander your precious life.

³⁴ awake and ready for me each morning, alert and responsive as I start my day's work.

³⁵ to say nothing of God's good pleasure.

³⁶ when you reject me, you're flirting with death."