Desire and Possession 1727

'Tis strange what different thoughts inspireIn 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 disdainHe threw them on the ground again;And hasted forward to pursueFresh 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.