Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ENIGMA (1), by MATTHEW PRIOR


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ENIGMA (1), by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: By birth I'm a slave, yet can give you a crown
Last Line: Sink when it rains, and when it freezes swim.
Subject(s): Curiosities & Wonders; Life; Love; Slavery; Serfs


By birth I'm a slave, yet can give you a crown;
I dispose of all honours, myself having none;
I'm obliged by just maxims to govern my life,
Yet I hang my own master, and lie with his wife.
When men are a-gaming, I cunningly sneak,
And their cudgels and shovels away from them take.
Fair maidens and ladies I by the hand get,
And pick off their diamonds, tho' ne'er so well set.
For when I have comrades we rob in whole bands,
Then presently take off your lands from your hands.
But, this fury once over, I've such winning arts,
That you love me much more than you do your own hearts.

ANOTHER.

FORMED half beneath, and half above the earth,
We sisters owe to art our second birth;
The smith's and carpenter's adopted daughters,
Made on the land, to travel on the waters.
Swifter they move, as they are straiter bound,
Yet neither tread the air, or wave, or ground;
They serve the poor for use, the rich for whim,
Sink when it rains, and when it freezes swim.





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