The Parable of the Talents
A man went on a journey,
And summoned up his slaves.
He trusted them, he spoke to them,
And these were the gifts he gave.
To one he gave five talents,
To another he gave two,
To another he gave one,
and without much ado,
went away.
The slave who had the five,
by trading made five more.
In the same way, he with two,
Then ended up with four.
But the slave who had one talent,
he was active too.
He hid his money in a hole,
and without much ado,
went to play.
The master soon returned,
To settle his account.
“Well done” he said to number one,
“That’s a great amount!”
He said the same on seeing four,
Praised his number two.
The third slave made him sit up,
And without much ado,
told him straight.
“You lazy good for nothing!
No profit here is shown!
You could at least have banked it,
My interest would have grown.
So take his talent from him,
He doesn’t have a clue.
And throw this worthless slave outside,
And without much ado,
Faced the day.
© Sheila Hamil 16th January 2014