Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE DREAM, by BRIAN" "BENDO [PSEUD.]


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE DREAM, by                    
First Line: Twas when tacita hushed the noisy world
Last Line: "the thought of which did banish sleep away, / and lo! The cuckold with the strumpet lay"
Alternate Author Name(s): "bendo, Brian;
Subject(s): Dreams; Nightmares


'TWAS when Tacita hushed the noisy world,
And wrangling clamour into silence hurled,
I lay involved in sleep close by the side
Of her I wish had never been my bride!
Methought into my cottage Morpheus came,
And me compelled to leave my wayward dame;
Straight unto Bridewell hurried me away,
Where I was doomed for just twelve months to stay.
There all the day I laboured like a Turk,
And in the ev'ning, when I left my work,
Upon the floor I instantly was chained,
And all the night beneath these bands remained:
But when the morning streaked the eastern skies
With red—I to my drudgery did rise.
Whene'er my master called, I did obey,
His precepts harsh I never did delay;
It was my duty, and my interest too,
For to complete whate'er he bade me do.
My meals, though small, with them I was content,I took with gladness what my
mistress sent.
Then hied to work as soon as I was done,
And finishèd what I'd before begun.
The time I spent with pleasure and delight,
Yet drudged all day, and bore my chains at night.
Methought, when in this pleasing dream I lay,
I could for ever in the prison stay:
I was content to stay there all my life,
As I was far from wedlock and my wife;
The farther I was from the wanton shrew,
The less of grief and wickedness I knew.
The year was with great satisfaction spent,
For with my slav'ry I was well content.
But oh! the time! the time too soon arrived,
When I of peace and prison was deprived.
Bridewell's restraint I with much pleasure bore;
But wedlock's damned confinement I abhor.
While there I stayed, I was from marriage free,
I had no freakish wife to trouble me;
No wrath to shun, no fury to avoid,
No woes to feel, but always peace enjoyed,
No wiles to cheat, no strife for to appease;
No trull to plague, no termagant to please;
No jilt to soothe, no harlot we to mock,
No prude to please, nor cradle for to rock.
No whore to clothe, no lechery to heed,
No wench to chide, no lawless brats to feed;
No threats to awe, no cries to stun my ear;
No frowns to dread, nor bludgeons for to fear.
No lust to quench, no vicious deeds to vex;
No bawd to scold, no strumpet to perplex;
No harm to hurt, no mischief for to flee;
No jade to scorn, nor wife to cuckold me!
Methought when I was forced to leave Bridewell,
I was harrassed beyond what tongue can tell;
For well I knew that home I must return,
To her alas! that gave me cause to mourn:
The thought of which did banish sleep away,
And lo! the cuckold with the strumpet lay.





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