Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO QUILCA; A COUNTRY HOUSE IN NO GOOD REPAIR by JONATHAN SWIFT

First Line: LET ME THY PROPERTIES EXPLAIN
Last Line: SLOTH, DIRT, AND THEFT, AROUND HER WAIT.
Subject(s): HOUSES; SHERIDAN, THOMAS (1687-1738);
Let me thy properties explain:
A rotten cabin, dropping rain,
Chimneys with scorn rejecting smoke,
Stools, tables, chairs, and bedsteads broke.
Here elements have lost their uses;
Air ripens not, nor earth produces.
In vain we make poor Sheelah toil;
Fire will not roast, nor waters boil.
Through all the valleys, hills, and plains,
The goddess Want in triumph reigns;
And her chief officers of state,
Sloth, Dirt, and Theft, around her wait.



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