There is no flock, however watched and tended,

But one dead lamb is there;

There is no fireside, howsoe'er defended,

But has one vacant chair.

Henry W Longfellow (1807-1882): Resignation.

I am a tainted wether of the flock,

Meetest for death: the weakest kind of fruit

Drops earliest to the ground.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): The Merchant of Venice. Act iv. Sc. 1.