Whoever guesses, thinks, or dreams he knows Who is my mistress, wither by this curse; His only, and only his purse May some dull heart to love dispose, And she yield then to all that are his foes; May he be scorned by one, whom all else scorn, Forswear to others, what to her he hath sworn, With fear of missing, shamde of getting, torn: Madness his sorrow, gout his cramps, may he Make, by but thinking, who hath made him such: And may he feel no touch Of conscience, but of fame, and be Anguished not that 'twas sin, but that 'twas she: In early and long scarceness may he rot, For land which had been his, if he had not Himself incestuously an heir begot: May he dream treason, and believe, that he Meant to perform it, and confess, and die, And no record tell why: His sons, which none of his may be, Inherit nothing but his infamy: Or may he so long parasites have fed, That he would fain be theirs, whom he hath bred, And at the last be circumcised for bread: The venom of all stepdames, gamesters' gall, What tyrants, and their subjects interwish, What plants, mines, beasts, fowl, fish, Can contribute, all ill which all Prophets, or poets spake; and all which shall Be annexed in schedules unto this by me, Fall on that man; for if it be a she Nature before hand hath out-cursed me. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO HIS SON, VINCENT CORBET, ON HIS THIRD BIRTHDAY by RICHARD CORBET DEAD IN THE SIERRAS by CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER TO A PORTRAIT by ARTHUR WILLIAM SYMONS BARCLAY OF URY by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER A TOMB BY THE SEA by AULUS LICINIUS ARCHIAS CHORUS OF A SONG THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN WRITTEN BY ALBERT CHEVALIER by HENRY MAXIMILIAN BEERBOHM |