Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE GNAT, by JOSEPH BEAUMONT


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE GNAT, by                    
First Line: One night all tyred wth ye weary day
Last Line: All feare.
Subject(s): Gnats; Mortality; Night; Bedtime


ONE Night all tyred wth ye weary Day,
And wth my tedious selfe, I went to lay
My fruitlesse Cares
And needlesse feares
Asleep.
The Curtaines of ye Bed, & of mine Eyes
Being drawne, I hop'd no trouble would surprise
That Rest wch now
Gan on my Brow
To creep.

When loe a little flie, lesse then its Name
(It was a Gnat) with angry Murmur came.
About Shee flew,
And lowder grew
Whilst I
Faine would have scorn'd ye silly Thing, & slept
Out all its Noise; I resolute silence kept,
And laboured so
To overthrow
The Flie

But still wth sharp Alarms vexatious Shee
Or challenged, or rather mocked Mee.
Angry at last
About I cast
My Hand.

'Twas well Night would not let me blush, nor see
With whom I fought; And yet though feeble Shee
Nor Her nor my
Owne Wrath could I
Command.

Away She flies, & Her owne Triumph sings;
I being left to fight with idler Things,
A feebler pair
My Selfe and Aire.
How true
A worme is Man, whom flies their sport can make!
Poor worme; true Rest in no Bed can he take,
But one of Earth,
Whence He came forth
And grew.

For there None but his silent Sisters be,
Wormes of as true & genuine Earth as He,
Which from ye same
Corruption came:
And there
Though on his Eyes they feed, though on his Heart
They neither vex nor wake Him; every part
Rests in sound sleep,
And out doth keep
All feare.





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