@3Madam,@1 Were you but only great, there are some men Whose heat is not the Muses', nor their pen Steered by chaste truth, could flatter you in prose, Or glorious verse, but I am none of those. I never learned that trick of court to wear Silk at the cost of flattery; or make dear My pride, by painting a great lady's face When she had done't before, and swear the grace Was Nature's; anagram upon her name, And add to her no virtue, my own shame. I would not make this lord a god, then try How to commit new court idolatry; And when he dies, hang on his silent hearse Wet elegies, and haunt his ghost inverse. These, some hold witty, thriving garbs, but I Choose to my loss a modest poesy, And place my genius upon subjects fit For imitation, rather than hold wit; And such are you, who both in name and blood Born great, have learned this lesson to be good. Armed with this knowledge, madam, I not fear To hold fair correspondence with the year, And bring my gift, hearty, as you are fair, A servant's wish, for all my wealth is prayer, Which with the year thus enters. May you be Still the same flowing goodness that we see. In your most noble lord be happy still, And heaven chain your hearts into one will; Be rich in your two darlings of the spring, Which as it waits, perfumes their blossoming, The growing pledges of your love, and blood; And may that unborn blessing timely bud, The chaste and noble treasure of your womb, Your own, and the age's expectation come; And when your days and virtues have made even, Die late, beloved of earth, and change for heaven. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE RING AND THE CASTLE by AMY LOWELL COUNTRYWOMEN by KATHERINE MANSFIELD SONNET TO TARTAR, A TERRIER BEAUTY by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES MOONRISE IN THE ROCKIES by ELLA (RHOADS) HIGGINSON THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS by ABRAHAM LINCOLN KARMA by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON |