@3Merlin@1, they say, an English Prophet borne, When he was young and governed by his Mother, Took great delight to laugh such fools to scorn As thought, by Nature we might know a Brother. His Mother chid him oft, till on a day, They stood, and saw a Coarse to burial carried, The Father tears his beard, doth weep and pray; The Mother was the woman he had married. Merlin laughs out aloud instead of crying; His Mother chides him for that childish fashion; Says, Men must mourn the dead, themselves are dying, @3Good manners doth make answer unto passion.@1 The Child (for children see what should be hidden) Replies unto his Mother by and by, "Mother, if you did not know, and were forbidden, Yet you would laugh as heartily, as I." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HEROD'S LAMENT FOR MARIAMNE by GEORGE GORDON BYRON THIRTY BOB A WEEK by JOHN DAVIDSON THE MAIZE by WILLIAM WHITEMAN FOSDICK TO THE RIVER CHARLES by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW LONGFELLOW by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY LITTLE JOHN AND THE RED FRIAR; A LAY OF SHERWOOD by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN |