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 | Poems on Affairs of State |  |
The sharpest Satyrist with Poetick Rage
Strives to reform the Vices of the Age;
Laughs at the Fool, and at the Villain rails;
Yet Folly reigns, and Villany prevails;
VVhile the crack'd Skull shows all that has been said,
Leaves Marks on nothing but the Poet's Head:
For partial Man, try'd by himself alone,
Protesting every Sentence but his own;
Severe to all Men, to himself too kind,
Sees others Faults, but to his own is blind.
Strives to reform the Vices of the Age;
Laughs at the Fool, and at the Villain rails;
Yet Folly reigns, and Villany prevails;
VVhile the crack'd Skull shows all that has been said,
Leaves Marks on nothing but the Poet's Head:
For partial Man, try'd by himself alone,
Protesting every Sentence but his own;
Severe to all Men, to himself too kind,
Sees others Faults, but to his own is blind.
| Poems on Affairs of State | |