Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SWORD AND BUCKLER; OR, SERVING-MAN'S DEFENCE: TO THE READER by WILLIAM BASSE

First Line: READE IF YOU WILL: AND IF YOU WILL NOT CHUSE
Last Line: I REST YOUR HONEST, CARELESSE FRIEND
Subject(s): BOOKS; READING;

READE if you will: And if you will not chuse,
My booke (Sir) shall be read though you refuse:
But if you doe, I pray commend my wit,
For, by my faith, 'tis first that ere I writ.
Who reades and not commends, it is a rule
To hold him very wise, or very foole.

But whosoere commends, and doth not reede,
What ere the other is, he's a foole indeede:
But who doth neither reade nor yet commend,
God speed him well; his labour's at an end.
But reade, or praise, or not, or how it pas,
I rest your honest, carelesse friend



Home: PoetryExplorer.net