I had a curious dream last night,
⁠So odd it set me pondering:
Its lesson how to read aright
⁠My thoughts afar vent wandering.

Methought by evil planet crossed,
⁠Or destiny unkind,
That I myself myself had lost,
⁠And strove in vain to find.

I wandered here, I wandered there,
⁠Poor weary-footed elf!
But found no traces anywhere
⁠Of my unlucky self.

I asked of every one I met
⁠If they had seen me lately;
A man, said I, well made and set,
⁠Though not so very stately.

But none in country or in town
⁠Could tell where I had wandered.
And so at last I sat me down,
⁠And o'er the puzzle pondered.