Classic Poem

'Tis strange, what different thoughts inspire
In man, possession, and desire;
Think what they wish so great a blessing,
So disappointed when possessing.

A moralist profoundly sage,
I know not in what book or page,
Or, whether o'er a pot of ale,
Related thus the following tale.

Possession, and Desire, his brother,
But still at variance with each other,
Were seen contending in a race;
And kept at first an equal pace:
'Tis said, their course continued long;
For, this was active, that was strong:
Till Envy, Slander, Sloth, and Doubt,
Misled them many a league about.
Seduced by some deceiving light,
They take the wrong way for the right.
Through slippery by-roads dark and deep,
They often climb, and oftener creep.

Desire, the swifter of the two,
Along the plain like lightning flew:
Till entering on a broad highway,
Where Power and Titles scattered lay,
He strove to pick up all he found,
And by excursions lost his ground:
No sooner got, than with disdain,
He threw them on the ground again;
And hasted forward to pursue
Fresh objects fairer to his view;
In hope to spring some nobler game:
But all he took was just the same:
Too scornful now to stop his pace,
He spurned them in his rival's face.

Possession kept the beaten road;
And gathered all his brother strewed;
But overcharged, and out of wind,
Though strong in limbs, he lagged behind.

Desire had now the goal in sight:
It was a tower of monstrous height,
Where on the summit Fortune stands:
A crown and sceptre in her hands;
Beneath, a chasm as deep as hell,
Where many a bold adventurer fell.
Desire, in rapture gazed awhile,
And saw the treacherous goddess smile;
But, as he climbed to grasp the crown,
She knocked him with her sceptre down.
He tumbled in the gulf profound;
There doomed to whirl an endless round.

Possession's load was grown so great,
He sunk beneath the cumbrous weight:
And, as he now expiring lay,
Flocks every ominous bird of prey;
The raven, vulture, owl, and kite,
At once upon his carcass light;
And strip his hide, and pick his bones,
Regardless of his dying groans.