Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AN ARGUMENT FOR DAVID'S BELIEF OF A FUTURE STATE, by JOHN BYROM


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AN ARGUMENT FOR DAVID'S BELIEF OF A FUTURE STATE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: If david knew not of a future life
Last Line: Now give as plain an answer thereupon.
Subject(s): Courts & Courtiers; David (d. 962 B.c.); Future Life; Salvation; Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens; Retribution; Eternity; After Life


IF David knew not of a future life,
How understood he Bathsheba, his wife?—
Who, when he lay upon his death-bed, came
To plead for Solomon's succeeding claim;
And, having prosper'd in her own endeavour,
Said—Let my Lord, King David, Live for ever!

What real wish was Bathsheba's intent,
If life hereafter was not what she meant?
Say that—for ever—to a king in health,
Meant "a long life, prosperity, and wealth;"
To one that lay a dying, you must own,
'Twould be a mere burlesque upon his throne.

If she had pray'd for David's mild release,
Or—"Let my Lord, the King, depart in peace!"
(Tho', even then, 'twere difficult to stint
Her utmost thought to so minute a hint,)
The short-liv'd comment might have some pretence,
But—Live for ever!—has no sort of sense,

Unless we grant her meaning to extend
To future life that never has an end:
Piety will, and reason must, confess,
That her intention could be nothing less:
King, live for ever!—and—God save the King!—
Old or new phrase, salvation is the thing.

No poor salvation to be quickly past,
And with a deadly exit at the last;
To which, when David was so near, what share
Could he enjoy of Live for ever's pray'r,
Had he not known what Bathsheba design'd,
A life to come, of everlasting kind?

Tho' num'rous proofs might, readily, be brought
That this was always holy David's thought;
Yet since by learned and long-winded ways,
Men seek to break the force of ancient phrase,
I single out this plain, familiar one—
Now give as plain an answer thereupon.





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