I could not find the little maid Content,
So out I rushed, and sought her far and wide;
But not where Pleasure each new fancy tried,
Heading the maze of rioting merriment,
Nor where, with restless eyes and bow half bent,
Love in the brake of sweetbriar smiled and sighed,
Nor yet where Fame towered, crowned and glorified,
Found I her face, nor wheresoe'er I went.
So homeward back I crawled, like wounded bird,
When lo! Content sate spinning at my door;
And when I asked her where she was before--
"Here all the time," she said; "I never stirred;
Too eager in thy search, you passed me o'er,
And, though I called you, neither saw nor heard."
--Alfred Austin.