Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ON POVERTY, by THOMAS FLATMAN


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ON POVERTY, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O poverty! Thou great and wise-man's school
Last Line: And pant, and breathe for immortality.
Subject(s): Poverty


I.

O POVERTY! thou great and wise-man's school!
Mistress of Arts! and scandal to the fool!
Heav'n's sacred badge, which th' heroes heretofore
(Bright caravans of saints and martyrs) wore!
To th' Host Triumphant valiant souls are sent
From those we call the ragged regiment:
Sure guide to everlasting peace above,
Thou dost th' impediments remove;
Th' unnecessary loads of wealth and state,
Which make men swell too big for the strait gate.

II.

Thou happy port! where we from storms are free,
And need not fear (false world!) thy piracy.
Hither for ease and shelter did retire
The busy Charles, and wearied Casimire;
Abjur'd their thrones, and made a solemn vow,
Their radiant heads to thee should ever bow.
Why should thy tents so terrible appear
Where monarchs reformadoes were?
Why should men call that state of life forlorn,
Which God approves of, and which kings have borne?

III.

Mad Luxury! what do thy vassals reap
From a life's long debauch, but late to weep!
What the curs'd miser, who would fain ape thee,
And wear thy livery, Great Poverty!
The prudent wretch for future ages cares,
And hoards up sins for his impatient heirs!
Full little does he think the time will come
When he is gone to his long home,
The prodigal youth for whom he took such pains
Shall be thy slave, and wear thy loathed chains.

IV.

Fair handmaid to Devotion, by whose aid
Our souls are all disrob'd, all naked laid,
In thy true mirror men themselves do see
Just what they are, not what they seem to be.
The flattering world misrepresents our face,
And cheats us with a magnifying-glass;
Our meanness nothing else does truly show,
But only Death, but only thou,
Who teach our minds above this Earth to fly,
And pant, and breathe for immortality.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net