“I am a parcel of vain strivings tied
By a chance bond together,”
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) 1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitionist
"I am a parcel of vain strivings tied" http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/3247.html, st. 1 (1841) <br class="br">Context: I am a parcel of vain strivings tied<br>By a chance bond together,<br>Dangling this way and that, their links<br>Were made so loose and wide,<br>Methinks,<br>For milder weather.