To hogs, time's opportunity we made
"'So light of, only recognized when flown!
Had we been wise!')—-in fine, I—wise enough,—
What profit brings me wisdom never shown
"Just when its showing would from each rebuff
Shelter weak virtue, threaten back to bounds
Encroaching vice, tread smooth each track too rough
"For youth's unsteady footstep, climb the rounds
Of life's long ladder, one by slippery one,
Yet make no stumble? Me hard fate confounds