I thought I'd never lived 'till now,
Or that I'd lived in vain;
It was a hardish rub, I vow,
That I should wake again.
Fulfilment of a nobler plan
Ambition couldn't crave—
I was a trap!—each common man
Seemed born to be my slave!
But stay—whose hand is on me now?
Who dares to clutch my cape?