Free-Will

FREE-WILL, n.

A chip, in floating down a stream,

Indulged a gratifying dream:

"All things on earth but only I

Are bound by stern necessity-

"Are moved this way or that, their course

Determined by some outer force.

"The helpless boughs upon the trees

Confess the suasion of the breeze.

"The stone where it was placed remains

Till loosened by the frost or rains.

"The animals go here and there

As circumstances may declare.

"The influence they cannot see

Is clearly visible to me.

"Yet all belive they're governed still

By nothing but their solemn will.

"Deluded fools! I-I alone

Obey no forces but my own.

"Without or sail or oar, I glide

At pleasure to the ocean's tide.

"No pow'r shall stay me till I lave

My body in the salt sea wave.

Just then an eddy's gentle strength

By hardly half a finger's length,

His chipship drew aside. Said he;

"'Tis far indeed to reach the sea."

Now more and more, behold him swerve

Along the eddy's outer curve.

He says: "My joy in swimming's o'er

I'm half inclined to go ashore."

As still he sweeps his arc,

He adds: "The day is growing dark,

"But still there's time to reach, no doubt,

The point for which I first set out."

The circle was completed quite.

"Right here," he said. "I'll pass the night."

Nor ever once that chip suspected

That ought but he his course deflected.

Free-will, O mortals, is a dream:

Ye all are ships upon a stream.

2009 Update: The iron shackling each to his or her own failures, felonies and follies.