The Poetical Works of the late Mrs Mary Robinson including many pieces never before published. In Three Volumes |
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 | The Poetical Works of the late Mrs Mary Robinson |  |
343
STANZAS.
[Since Fortune's smiles too often give]
Since Fortune's smiles too often give
Respect to fools, to knaves renown,
Let Reason bid me calmly live,
And Fortune mark me with a frown!
Respect to fools, to knaves renown,
Let Reason bid me calmly live,
And Fortune mark me with a frown!
For who would buy the wretched state
Which conscious vice or dullness knows?
Or who be vainly, meanly great,
With pow'r that from oppression grows?
Which conscious vice or dullness knows?
Or who be vainly, meanly great,
With pow'r that from oppression grows?
While Nature, with a partial hand,
Her darling children beckons forth;
While fools and knaves usurp command,
And Fortune flies from modest worth!
Her darling children beckons forth;
While fools and knaves usurp command,
And Fortune flies from modest worth!
Then give, oh! Fortune! all thy store
To insects of a sunny day;
While I the paths of truth explore,
And smile the darkest hour away.
To insects of a sunny day;
While I the paths of truth explore,
And smile the darkest hour away.
| The Poetical Works of the late Mrs Mary Robinson | |