THE SAGE AND THE FOOL.

331

So, ever since then,

'Tis the practice of menTo shape all their courses in trouble;

Yet in colours so bright,

That they dazzle the sight,But end, like their hopes, in a bubble.

Thus, ambition and fame,While they glitter in name,

And show in the prospect so fair;Yet, ere hold you can take,The gay phantoms break,

Or vanish, like bubbles, in air.

Even friendship and love,

Like stars from above,That brighten our paths as we go,

Too often we find

Of the same brittle kind,—As bubbles in colour and show.

Then the fool and the sage,

In every age,

Lift their schemes into life with a breath;

Or of science or wealth,

They escape as by stealth,

Or are presently put out by Death.

D.