K ...

Kite

Once on a time a paper kite

Was mounted to a wondrous height,

Where, giddy with its elevation,

It thus express’d 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 towring wing,

Might I but fly without a string.”

It tugg’d and pull’d, while thus it spoke,

To break the string—at last it broke.

Depriv’d at once of all its stay,

In vain it try’d to soar away;

Unable its own weight to bear,

It flutter’d downward through the air;

Unable is own course to guide,

The winds soon plung’d it in the tide.

Ah! foolish kite, thou hadst no wing,

How could’st thou fly without a string!

My heart reply’d, “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 wish’d to break the lines

Thy wisdom for my lot assigns?

How oft indulg’d a vain desire

For something more, or something high’r?

And, but for grace and love divine,

A fall thus dreadful had been mine.”

(Galaxie Software. (2002; 2002). 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press.

cf. confer (Lat.), compare)