Divine poems Containing The History of Ionah. Ester. Iob. Sampson. Sions Sonets. Elegies. Written and newly augmented, by Fra: Quarles |
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 | Divine poems |  |
135
Meditat. 10.
As in the winged Common-wealth of Bees,
(Whose carefull Summer-providence foresees
Th'approching fruitlesse Winter, which denies
The crowne of labour) some with laden thighs
Take charge to beare their waxy burthens home;
Others receive the welcome load; and some
Dispose the waxe; others, the plot contrive;
Some build the curious Comb, some guard the Hive
Like armed Centinels; others distreine
The purer honey from the waxe; some traine,
And discipline the young, while others drive
The sluggish Drones from their deserved Hive:
Thus in this Common-wealth (untaught by Art)
Each winged Burger acts his busie part;
So man (whose first creation did intend,
And chiefly pointed at no other end,
Then (as a faithfull Steward) to receive
The Fine and quit-rent of the lives we live)
Must suit his deare indeavour to his might;
Each one must lift, to make the burthen light,
Proving the power, that his gifts afford,
To raise the best advantage for his Lord,
Whose substitute he is, and for whose sake
We live and breath; each his account must make,
Or more, or lesse; and he whose power lacks
The meanes to gather honey, must bring waxe:
Five Talents double five; two render foure;
Wher's little, little's crav'd, where much, there's more:
Kings by their Royall priviledge may do,
What unbefits a mind to search into,
But by the force of their prerogatives,
They cannot free the custome of their lives:
The silly Widow (from whose wrinkled browes
Faint drops distill, through labour that she owes
Her needy life, must make her Audite too,
As well as Kings, and mighty Monarks doe:
The world's a Stage, each mortall Acts thereon,
As well the King that glitters on the throne,
As needy beggers: Heav'n Spectator is,
And markers who acteth well, and who amisse.
(Whose carefull Summer-providence foresees
Th'approching fruitlesse Winter, which denies
The crowne of labour) some with laden thighs
Take charge to beare their waxy burthens home;
Others receive the welcome load; and some
Dispose the waxe; others, the plot contrive;
Some build the curious Comb, some guard the Hive
Like armed Centinels; others distreine
The purer honey from the waxe; some traine,
And discipline the young, while others drive
The sluggish Drones from their deserved Hive:
Thus in this Common-wealth (untaught by Art)
Each winged Burger acts his busie part;
So man (whose first creation did intend,
And chiefly pointed at no other end,
Then (as a faithfull Steward) to receive
The Fine and quit-rent of the lives we live)
Must suit his deare indeavour to his might;
Each one must lift, to make the burthen light,
Proving the power, that his gifts afford,
To raise the best advantage for his Lord,
Whose substitute he is, and for whose sake
We live and breath; each his account must make,
Or more, or lesse; and he whose power lacks
The meanes to gather honey, must bring waxe:
Five Talents double five; two render foure;
Wher's little, little's crav'd, where much, there's more:
Kings by their Royall priviledge may do,
What unbefits a mind to search into,
136
They cannot free the custome of their lives:
The silly Widow (from whose wrinkled browes
Faint drops distill, through labour that she owes
Her needy life, must make her Audite too,
As well as Kings, and mighty Monarks doe:
The world's a Stage, each mortall Acts thereon,
As well the King that glitters on the throne,
As needy beggers: Heav'n Spectator is,
And markers who acteth well, and who amisse.
What part befits me best, I cannot tell:
It matters not how meane, so acted well.
It matters not how meane, so acted well.
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