The Welcome.
1
Go, let the fatted Calf be kill'd;
My Prodigal's come home at last;
With noble resolutions fill'd,
And fill'd with sorrow for the past.
No more will burn with Love or Wine:
But quite has left his Women and his Swine.
2
Welcome, ah welcome my poor Heart;
Welcome; I little thought, I'll swear,
('Tis now so long since we did part)
Ever again to see thee here:
Dear Wanderer, since from me you fled,
How often have I heard that Thou wer't dead!
3
Hast thou not found each womans breast
(The Lands where thou hast travelled)
Either by Savages possest,
Or wild, and uninhabited?
What joy couldst take, or what repose
In Countrys so unciviliz'd as those?
4
Lust, the scorching Dog-star, here
Rages with immoderate heart;
Whilst Pride the rugged Northern Bear,
In others makes the Cold too great.
And where these are temp'rate known,
The Soyl's all barren Sand, or rocky Stone.
5
When once or twice you chanc'd to view
A rich, well-govern'd Heart,
Like China, it admitted You
But to the Frontier-part.
From Par'adise shut for evermore,
What good is't that an Angel kept the Door?
6
Well fare the Pride, and the Disdain,
And Vanities with Beauty joyn'd,
I ne're had seen this Heart again,
If any Fair one had been kind:
My Dove, but once let loose, I doubt
Would ne're return, had not the Flood been out.
