FROM THE GREEK.
A man who was about to hang himself,
Finding a purse, then threw away his rope;
The owner, coming to reclaim his pelf,
The halter found; and used it. So is Hope
Changed for Despair--one laid upon the shelf,
We take the other. Under Heaven's high cope
Fortune is God--all you endure and do
Depends on circumstance as much as you.
Public domain. Source: PoetryDB. Reproduced verbatim; see theanthology for the full collection.
Poems like Circumstance
Matched by documented rules, not taste: two points for every theme tag a poem shares with Circumstance, one point for the same era, one for a similar length.