A Ship and a Man

Seeing a ship sailing by upon the sea of politics, an ambitious person started in hot pursuit along the strand. However, the people's eyes were fixed on the Presidency, and no one noticed the pursuer. This greatly annoyed him. Recollecting that he was not aquatic, he stopped and shouted across the tumultuous roar of the waves, "Take my name off the passenger list!"

Back to him over the waters, hollow and heartless, like laughter in a tomb, rang the voice of the skipper: "'T ain't on!"

And there, in the focus of a million pairs of convergent eyes, the ambitious person sat down between the sun and moon and murmured sadly to his own soul, "Marooned, by thunder!"