The Minor Poems of Joseph Beaumont ... Edited from the autograph manuscript with introduction and notes by Eloise Robinson |
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News
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 | The Minor Poems of Joseph Beaumont |  |
407
News
May 22.
1
What haste, fond Jock! Nay thou shalt longer stay,Bycause thou thirstest thus to snatch
The first buzz of the News, & catch
Thou knowst not what: The Story may
Be sad, & punish greedy thee;
What harm then in deferring Miserie!
2
Stay but a while, & thou the News shalt seeCome, uninvited, to thy door,
And honester that 'twas before:
That Paint & lying Braverie
Which makes her young wilde face so gay,
Will by truth-cleering Time be washt away.
3
Fear not Delay; the News, though tardy, yetCan be her self to Thee, one day,
Or twenty hence: That which doth slay
Her slight life, is not Absence, but
Presence alone: the News is new
When first she comes (though then she dyes) in view.
408
4
But hark, my Heart, the happiest News to theeWill be to finde it truely in
Thy self: Is that old Man of Sin
Banishd & gone, & canst thou see
New holy youth bud in thy breast?
This is the only News can make thee blest.
5
If after other News thou lingerest still,Look out, & see where thou canst spy
Devotion, Meeknes, Loyalty,
Peace, Justice, & sinceer good-will:
Judge truly, & thou canst not chuse
But grant these old things are the greatest News.
| The Minor Poems of Joseph Beaumont | |