"The Kite and it's String --"
Once on a time a paper kite
Was mounted to a wondrous height,
Where, giddy with its elevation,
It thus expressed self-admiration:

"See how yon crowds of gazing people
Admire my flight above the steeple;
How would they wonder if they knew
All that a kite like me can do!

Were I but free, I'd take a flight,
And pierce the clouds beyond their sight,
But, ah! like a poor pris'ner bound,
My string confines me near the ground;

I'd brave the eagle's towering wing,
Might I but fly without a string."
It tugged and pull, while thus it spoke,
To break the string--at last it broke.

Deprived at once of all its stay,
In vain it tried to soar away;
Unable its own weight to bear,
It fluttered downward through the air;

Unable its own course to guide,
The winds soon plunged it in the tide.
Ah! foolish kite, thou hadst no wing,
How could'st thou fly without a string!

My heart replied, "O Lord, I see
How much this kite resembles me!
Forgetful that by thee I stand,
Impatient of thy ruling hand;
How oft I've wished to break the lines
Thy wisdom for my lot assigns?

How oft indulged a vain desire
For something more, or something higher?
And, but for grace and love divine,
A fall thus dreadful had been mine."

--John Newton