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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SEEING HIS OWN PICTURE by PHILIP AYRES

First Line: THIS, WHICH THE SHADOW OF MY FACE DOES GIVE
Last Line: DESTROYS MY LABOURS, AND SO BLASTS MY BAYS.
Subject(s): SELF;
THIS, which the shadow of my face does give,
Whose counterfeit seems true, and Art alive,
Shows but the part of man's infirmity,
Which to Age subject, must decay, and die;

Yet the internal Nature's excellence,
Which does this earthly shadow influence,
Perhaps some image may on paper draw,
Whose essence ne'er of Time shall stand in awe:

For by my Muse's help I hope to build
Such monuments, as ne'er to Time shall yield;
Better than from these colours can be had,
And to my years, shall greater numbers add.

But when some noble work I enterprise,
That might advance my honour to the skies;
My envious Fortune strikes a thousand ways,
Destroys my labours, and so blasts my bays.



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