Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE POOR MAN PAYS FOR ALL, by ANONYMOUS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE POOR MAN PAYS FOR ALL, by                    
First Line: As I lay musing all alone
Last Line: That poor men pay for all
Subject(s): Poverty


As I lay musing all alone
Upon my resting bed,
Full many a cogitation
Did come into my head;
And waking from my sleep I
My dream to mind did call:
Methought how I saw before mine eyes
How poor men pay for all.
Methought I saw how wealthy men
Did grind the poor men's faces,
And greedily did prey on them,
Not pitying their cases.
They make them toil and labour sore
For wages too too small;
The rich men in the taverns roar,
But poor men pay for all.
Methought I saw a usurer old
Walk in his fox-furred gown,
Whose wealth and eminence controlled
The most men in the town.
His wealth he by extortion got,
And rose by others' fall;
He had what his hands earned not,
But poor men pay for all.
Methought I saw a courtier proud
Go swaggering along,
That unto any scarce allowed
The office of his tongue.
Methought, wert not for bribery,
His peacock plumes would fall;
He ruffles out in bravery,
But poor men pay for all.
Methought I was i' th'country,
Where poor men take great pains,
And labour hard continually,
Only for rich men's gains.
Like th'Israelites in Egypt,
The poor are kept in thrall;
The taskmasters are playing kept
But poor men pay for all.
Methought I saw poor tradesmen
I' th'city and elsewhere,
Whom rich men keep as beadsmen
In bondage, care and fear.
They'll have them work for what they list,
The weakest go to the wall:
The rich men eat and drink the best,
But poor men pay for all.
Methough I saw two lawyers base
One to another say,
"We have had in hand this poor man's case
A twelvemonth and a day;
And yet we'll not contented be
To let the matter fall;
Bear thou with me, and I'll bear with thee,
While poor men pay for all.'
Methought I saw a red-nose host,
As fat as he could wallow,
Whose carcase, if it should be roast,
Would drop seven stone of tallow.
He grows rich out of measure
With filling measure small;
He lives in mirth and pleasure
But poor men pay for all.
And so likewise the brewer stout,
The chandler and the baker,
The malt-man also, without doubt,
And the tobacco-taker.
Though they be proud and stately grown,
And bear themselves so tall,
Yet to the world it is well known
That poor men pay for all.
Even as the mighty fishes still
Do feed upon the less,
So rich men, might they have their will,
Would on the poor men cess.
It is a proverb old and true,
That weakest go to th'wall:
Rich men can drink till th'sky look blue,
But poor men pay for all.
But now, as I before did say,
This is but a dream indeed;
Though all dreams prove not true, some may
Hap right as I do read.
And if that any come to pass,
I doubt this my dream shall,
For still 'tis found too true a case,
That poor men pay for all.





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