Hope spread his wings to scale a mountain;
And, somehow, Youth fell fast asleep,
And left his crook to tend the sheep:
No wonder, as the legend says,
They took to very crooked ways.
He woke—to hear a distant bleating,—
The faithless quadrupeds were fleeting!
Wealth vanished first, with stealthy tread,
Then Friendship followed—to be fed,—
And foolish Love was after led;