Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, WHEN LET BY RAIN, by EDWARD TAYLOR


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WHEN LET BY RAIN, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Ye flippering soul, / why dost between the nippers dwell?
Last Line: Burns up the building: lord forbid the same.
Variant Title(s): Let By Rain;an Address To The Soul Occasioned By A Rain
Subject(s): Puritans In Literature; Rain


Ye Flippering Soule,
Why dost between the Nippers dwell?
Not stay, nor goe. Not yea, nor yet Controle.
Doth this doe well?
Rise journy'ng when the skies fall weeping Showers.
Not o're nor under th'Clouds and Cloudy Powers.

Not yea, nor noe:
On tiptoes thus? Why sit on thorns?
Resolve the matter: Stay thyselfe or goe.
Be n't both wayes born.
Wager thyselfe against thy surplice, see,
And win thy Coate: or let thy Coate Win thee.

Is this th'Effect,
To leaven thus my Spirits all?
To make my heart a Crabtree Cask direct?
A Verjuicte Hall?
As Bottle Ale, whose Spirits prisond nurst
When jog'd, the bung with Violence doth burst?

Shall I be made
A sparkling Wildfire Shop
Where my dull Spirits at the Fireball trade
Do frisk and hop?
And while the Hammer doth the Anvill pay,
The fireball matter sparkles ery way.

One sorry fret,
An anvill Sparke, rose higher
And in thy Temple falling almost set
The house on fire.
Such fireballs droping in the Temple Flame
Burns up the building: Lord forbid the same.





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