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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE NEW RIVER HEAD; A FRAGMENT, by E. DOWER
First Line: Tired with books and rolling on the bed
Last Line: I leaned upon my staff and fell asleep.
Subject(s): Books; Insomnia; Reading; Sleeplessness
First Line: Tired with books and rolling on the bed
Last Line: I leaned upon my staff and fell asleep.
Subject(s): Books; Insomnia; Reading; Sleeplessness
TIRED with books and rolling on the bed,
I walked one evening to the River Head.
There patient anglers do the fishes tease,
And dogs are washed to clean them from the fleas;
From thence you hear the noise of jangling bells,
Or the soft Italian tunes from Sadler's Wells.
There citizens tell each other who is the winner,
And clergy boast of what they had for dinner;
The lovesick maid from death will not refrain—
Plunges in there, and laughs at future pain.
Some walk there to get appetites to their meat,
And others like me, that has no food to eat.
From the verdant fields comes a fragrant smell,
Whilst the gay town looks like the mouth of hell.
—I thought of woods, palaces and springs,
Riches, poverty and the pomp of kings.
Whilst th' royal swans for food did seem to weep,
I leaned upon my staff and fell asleep.
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