When at first I had this house, my heart was full of hope.
Sure, it had some problems but I felt that I could cope.

And so I set myself to work with energy and zeal,
But the more I worked upon it, the more faults were revealed.

The cost was more than I could pay, I could not meet demands,
And then a rich man came my way, to take it off my hands!

And how relieved I was that day! New funding now to build
The house I really needed, and have all my hopes fulfilled...

But the men I hired were lazy crooks, the work they did was poor
My blueprint was so hopeless that I needed to redraw,

And every time I set myself to make some good repair
It was exposed what rottenness and hopelessness was there.

But still I fanned the flames of hope, until that darkest day
When exposing the foundations, I found them made of clay!

I'm glad you've come at last, he said, now let's look at MY plan -
For all along I wanted just to rebuild on the land!

Your house will be demolished and the rubble cleared away
Your plans are plainly rubbish, so let's do the thing MY way.

I was filled with disappointment, and anger too, and shame,
WELL!! All the work I've done on it! I'm not the one to blame!

You watched me labour day and night and never came to call,
And now the thing is hopeless, you just want to end it all!

He looked at me with a gentle look, and said, I understand,
But while you were building YOUR house, I couldn't use the land.

I did come round, but you were much too occupied to see,
So I thought I'd leave you to it, until YOU came to ME.

I relented then, it was a fact, I knew it to be true;
I sat down at his table, and said, what shall shall we do?

Oh sorry, didn't I explain? he replied without delay:
I've hired some builders I can trust to build the house MY WAY.

And where do I fit into this? I muttered under my breath.

You'll have the finest house on earth from now until your death.
People will be drawn to you, to see what I've achieved,
And after all, the land IS mine to do with as I please.

Let me tell you something, he turned to me and said,
When I paid you for that land, I KNEW the house was dud.

And furthermore the land was mine, it's all owned by my Dad
But still I paid you richly for what you thought you had.

I hung my head, the tears began, I went to leave his side.
No wait, he shouted, here's the key! Let's go see what's inside!

He led me then and showed the place, OH what a house was there!!
Ten thousand times what I could have built, and all for us to share.

It never costs a penny, in fact I rent it out -
It never needs repairing and it's the finest house about.

I lay no claim to building it, I tell them all - it's FREE!!
If you want one just like it, then abandon hope - like me.