Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, FATHER FRANCIS'S PRAYER; WRITTEN IN LORD WESTMORELAND'S HERMITAGE, by GILBERT WEST


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

FATHER FRANCIS'S PRAYER; WRITTEN IN LORD WESTMORELAND'S HERMITAGE, by                    
First Line: Ne gay attire, ne marble hall
Last Line: Mine house shall prove an hermitage.
Subject(s): Prayer


NE gay attire, ne marble hall,
Ne arched roof, ne pictured wall;
Ne cook of Fraunce, ne dainty board,
Bestow'd with pyes of Perigord;
Ne power, ne such like idle fancies,
Sweet Agnes, grant to Father Francis:
Let me ne more myself deceive;
Ne more regret the toys I leave.
The world I quit, the proud, the vain,
Corruption's and Ambition's train;
But not the good, perdie, nor fair,
'Gainst them I make ne vow, ne prayer;
But such aye welcome to my cell,
And oft, not always, with me dwell:
Then cast, sweet saint, a circle round,
And bless from fools this holy ground;
From all the foes to worth and truth,
From wanton old, and homely youth;
The gravely dull, and pertly gay,
Oh! banish these, and, by my fay,
Right well I ween that in this age
Mine house shall prove an hermitage.





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