Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CONFUSION, by CHRISTOPHER HARVEY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CONFUSION, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O how my mind / is gravell'd!
Last Line: Else my soul dies famisht and starv'd with flesh.
Subject(s): Herbert, George (1593-1633); Thought; Thinking


O how my mind
Is gravell'd!
Not a thought
That I can find
But's ravel'd
All to nought.
Short ends of threds,
And narrow shreds
Of lists,
Knot-snarl'd ruffs,
Loose broken tufts
Of twists,
Are my torn meditation's ragged clothing;
Which, wound and woven, shape a sute for nothing;
One while I think, and then I am in pain
To think how to unthink that thought again.

How can my soul
But famish
With this food?
Pleasure's full bowl
Tastes rammish,
Taints the blood;
Profit picks bones,
And chews on stones
That choak;
Honour climbs hills,
Fats not, but fills
With smoak.

And whilst my thoughts are greedy upon these,
They pass by pearls, and stoop to pick up pease.
Such wash and draff is fit for none but swine:
And such I am not, Lord, if I am Thine.
Cloath me anew, and feed me then afresh;
Else my soul dies famisht and starv'd with flesh.





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