Desire And Possession 1727

'Tis strange what different thoughts inspire     In men, 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 often creep.         Desire, the swifter of the two,     Along the plain like lightning flew:     Till, entering on a broad highway,     Where power and titles scatter'd 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 spurn'd them in his rival's face.         Possession kept the beaten road,     And gather'd all his brother strew'd;     But overcharged, and out of wind,     Though strong in limbs, he lagg'd 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 climb'd to grasp the crown,     She knock'd him with the sceptre down!     He tumbled in the gulf profound;     There doom'd 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.