The Minor Poems of Joseph Beaumont ... Edited from the autograph manuscript with introduction and notes by Eloise Robinson |
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The Farm
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 | The Minor Poems of Joseph Beaumont |  |
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The Farm
May 21.
1
Tenant at will indeed I am; & yetWish for no Lease of this my life, since I
Under so good a Lord do live, & sitt
At rent allmost as low as He is high:
The greatest summ that He expects from me
Is that which nothing costs, Humilitie.
2
Humility, with Homage, Fealty, andSome easy Services; for mighty He,
Least I should shrink, lays to his own kinde hand
And helps me to obey himself. oh free
And gentle Lord, who to his Tenant gives,
Aforehand, all the Rent that he receives!
3
As for the Farms increase, though I improveIt to a thousand fold, yet still I pay
No more to Him, but only more of love:
And what gains heavns great King, yf Dust & Clay
Heap his affections on him! Thus, in fine
The Farm's Rent's his, but all the Profits mine.
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Besides, to keep my house in good repair,With all Materials He doth me supply.
Yf to decay it falleth, I must bear
The blame alone: yea when Mortality
Shall tumble't into dust, that Ruine from
My Fall & first offence, at last, will come.
5
But now to leave so good a Farm, can IContented be? oh yes I can, whene'r
My Lord shall please to turn me out, since by
His boundless Love eternal Mansions are
Prepar'd above. of short-termd Tenants heer
Who would not chuse to be Freeholders there?
| The Minor Poems of Joseph Beaumont | |