Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AGAINST FRUITION (1), by JOHN SUCKLING


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AGAINST FRUITION (1), by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Stay here, fond youth, and ask no more; be wise
Last Line: He's only rich that cannot tell his store.
Subject(s): Wealth; Riches; Fortunes


Stay here, fond youth, and ask no more, be wise:
Knowing too much long since lost Paradise;
The virtuous joys thou hast, thou wouldst should still
Last in their pride; and wouldst not take it ill
If rudely from sweet dreams (and for a toy)
Th'wert waked? He wakes himself that does enjoy.
Fruition adds no new wealth, but destroys,
And, while it pleases much the palate, cloys;
Who thinks he shall be happier for that
As reasonably might hope he should grow fat
By eating to a surfeit: this once past,
What relishes? Ev'n kisses lose their taste.
Urge not 'tis necessary. Alas, we know
The homeliest thing which mankind does is so;
The world is of a vast extent we see,
And must be peopled: children then must be;
So must bread, too; but since there are enough
Born to the drudgery, what need we plough?
Women enjoyed (whats'e'er before th'ave been)
Are like romances read, or sights once seen;
Fruition's dull, and spoils the play much more
Than if one read or knew the plot before;
'Tis expectation makes a blessing dear:
It were not heaven, if we knew what it were.
And as in prospects we are there pleased most
Where something keeps the eye from being lost
And leaves us room to guess, so here restraint
Holds up delight, that with excess would faint.
They who know all the wealth they have are poor;
He's only rich that cannot tell his store.








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