@3Merlin@1, they say, an English Prophet borne, When he was young and governed by his Mother, Took great delight to laugh such fools to scorn As thought, by Nature we might know a Brother. His Mother chid him oft, till on a day, They stood, and saw a Coarse to burial carried, The Father tears his beard, doth weep and pray; The Mother was the woman he had married. Merlin laughs out aloud instead of crying; His Mother chides him for that childish fashion; Says, Men must mourn the dead, themselves are dying, @3Good manners doth make answer unto passion.@1 The Child (for children see what should be hidden) Replies unto his Mother by and by, "Mother, if you did not know, and were forbidden, Yet you would laugh as heartily, as I." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE HIGHWAYMAN by ALFRED NOYES COLUMBUS [JANUARY, 1487] by LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY THE SMALL CELANDINE by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH WINTER WIZARDRY by LAURA S. BECK THE BODING DREAMS by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES |