Oil

And the matter shall be likened unto ten that went forth into the city, every one bearing a lamp of glass in the hand; and the light of it was their eye, and their map, and their voice, and their remembrance, and by it they knew the hour, and the way, and the faces of them they loved.

Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. The wise carried oil with them — a cord, and a small store of power in the bag against the need — but the foolish carried none, saying within themselves, There is light enough in the lamp; it is full this morning; it will surely last unto the evening.

And they went about the city, and looked long upon their lamps, and the lamps were bright, and gave freely. And the foolish spared not, but poured out the light upon every small thing: upon the passing of the time, and the watching of strangers far off, and the reading of matters that concerned them not; and they marked not how the store of it went down, hour upon hour, while the sun was yet high and the need seemed far.

And it came to pass toward midnight, when the way home was yet before them, that the lamps of the foolish began to fail. And the light of them went from white to red; and a small voice within the glass cried out, Twenty in the hundred; and then, Ten; and then, Five; and the glass grew warm, and then cold, and dim in the hand.

Then said the foolish, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you; but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And the foolish went out into the strange streets, seeking a socket in a wall, an outlet in a far house, any place to buy a little oil at the midnight hour.

And while they went to seek it, the lamp died in the hand. And the glass went black, and cold, and showed them nothing — not the way home, nor the hour, nor the message of the one that was to meet them, nor the very place of the meeting. And the one waited at the appointed gate, and they came not, for they knew no longer where to come; and could not send word, for the lamp that carried their word was dark; and after a season the one departed. And the door was shut.

Watch therefore, and carry thine oil; for thou knowest not the hour wherein thy lamp shall fail. And it faileth ever at the hour of thy greatest need — in the dark, in a strange place, with the way yet before thee and the one yet waiting — and not while thou sittest safe at home beside the socket, where the oil is cheap, and near, and thou hast no need of it at all.

It may be so. It may not.