'TIS mighty Wise that you would now be thought With your grave Rules from musty Morals brought: Through which some streaks too of Div'nity ran, Partly of Monke, and partly Puritan; With tedious Repetitions too you've tane Often the name of Vanity in vain. Things, which, I take it, friend, you'd ne'er recite, Should she I love, but say t' you, Come at night. The wisest King refus'd all pleasures quite, 'Till Wisdome from above did him enlight; But when that gifte his ignorance did remove, Pleasures he chose, and plac'd them all in Love. And if by event the counsels may be seen, This wisdome 'twas that brought the Southern Queen. She came not, like a good old Wife, to know The wholesome nature of all plants that grow: Nor did so farre from her own Country rome, To cure Scal'd heads, and broken shins at home; She came for that, which more befits all Wives, The Art of Giving, not of Saving lives. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LINES WRITTEN IN KENSINGTON GARDENS by MATTHEW ARNOLD THE OTHER SIDE OF A MIRROR by MARY ELIZABETH COLERIDGE OH! SUSANNA! by STEPHEN COLLINS FOSTER TO E. L., ON HIS TRAVELS IN GREECE by ALFRED TENNYSON GOOD LUCK by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS WHITE SNOW by GUILLAUME APOLLINAIRE |