A Good Lesson - The Kite

The Kite and Its 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 the 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 prisoner 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 pulled, 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 wind soon plunged it to the tide.

Ah, foolish kite, you had no wing:

How could you 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