Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TEMPERANCE, OR THE CHEAP PHYSICIAN, by RICHARD CRASHAW


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TEMPERANCE, OR THE CHEAP PHYSICIAN, by             Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Goe now; and with some dareing drugg
Last Line: Hark hither; and thy self be he.
Subject(s): Health; Lessius (leys), Leonard (1554-1623)


IN PRAISE OF LESSIUS

Goe now; and with some daring drugg
Bait thy disease. And whilst they tugge,
Thou to maintain their pretious strife
Spend the dear treasures of thy life.
Goe, take physick: Doat upon
Some big-nam'd composition.
Th'Oraculous DOCTOR'S mystick bills;
Certain hard WORDS made into pills,
And what at last shalt' gain by these?
Only a costlyer disease.

That which makes us have no need
Of physick, that's PHYSICK indeed.
Hark hither, Reader! wilt thou see
Nature her own physitian be?
Wilt' see a man, all his own wealth,
His own musick, his own health;
A man whose sober soul can tell
How to wear her garments well.

Her garments, that upon her sitt
As garments should doe, close and fitt;
A well-cloth'd soul; that's not opprest
Nor choak't with what she should be drest.
A soul sheath'd in a christall shrine;
Through which all her bright features shine;
As when a peice of wanton lawn
A thinne, aeriall veil, is drawn
Or'e beauty's face; seeming to hide
More sweetly showes the blushing bride.
A soul, whose intellectuall beames
No mists doe mask, no lazy steames.
A happy soul, that all the way
To HEAVN rides in a summer's day.
Wouldst' see a man, whose well-warm'd blood
Bathes him in a genuine flood!
A man, whose tuned humors be
A set of rarest harmony?
Wouldst' see blith lookes, fresh cheekes beguil
Age? wouldst see december smile?
Wouldst' see nests of new roses grow
In a bed of reverend snow?
Warm thoughts, free spirits flattering
Winter's selfe into a SPRING?

In summe, wouldst see a man that can
Live to be old, and still a man?
Whose latest and most leaden houres
Fall with soft wings, stuck with soft flowres;
And when life's sweet fable ends,
Soul and body part like friends;
No quarrells, murmurs, no delay;
A KISSE, a SIGH, and so away.
This rare one, reader, wouldst thou see?
Hark hither; and thy self be HE.





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