O loss of sight, of thee I most complain! Blind among enemies, O worse than chains, Dungeon, or beggary, or decrepit age!
This is servitude, To serve the unwise.
Most men admire Virtue who follow not her lore.
So dear to Heaven is saintly chastity, That, when a soul is found sincerely so, A thousand liveried angels lacky her, Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt.
Neither prosperity nor empire nor heaven can be worth winning at the price of a virulent temper, bloody hands, an anguished spirit, and a vain hatred of the rest of the world.
How charming is divine philosophy! Not harsh and crabb.
It was the winter wild, While the Heaven-born child, All meanly wrapt in the rude manger lies.
Meadows trim with daisies pied, Shallow brooks and rivers wide Towers and battlements it sees Bosom’d high in tufted trees, Where perhaps some beauty lies, The cynosure of neighboring eyes.
For Solomon, he lived at ease, and full Of honour, wealth, high fare, aimed not beyond Higher design than to enjoy his state.
And grace that won who saw to wish her stay.
What honour that, But tedious waste of time, to sit and hear So many hollow compliments and lies.
For to interpose a little ease, Let our frail thoughts dally with false surmise.
O fairest flower! no sooner blown but blasted, Soft silken primrose fading timelessly.
So glistered the dire Snake, and into fraud Led Eve, our credulous mother, to the Tree Of Prohibition, root of all our woe.
Darkness now rose, as daylight sunk, and brought in low’ring Night her shadowy offspring.
To overcome in battle, and subdue Nations, and bring home spoils with infinite Man-slaughter, shall be held the highest pitch Of human glory.
So much I feel my genial spirits droop, My hopes all flat, nature within me seems In her functions weary of herself.
Blind mouths! That scarce themselves know how to hold A sheep-hook.
Oft, on a plat of rising ground, I hear the far-off curfew sound Over some wide-watered shore, Swinging low with sullen roar.
Come knit hands, and beat the ground in a light fantastic round.