A Collection of Miscellanies Consisting of Poems, Essays, Discourses & Letters, Occasionally Written. By John Norris ... The Second Edition Corrected |
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To himself.
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 | A Collection of Miscellanies |  |
To himself.
I
Not yet Convinc'd? why wilt thou still pursueThrough Nature's field delusive Bliss?
'Tis false, or else too fugitive if true,
Thou may'st assoon thy Shadow overtake as this.
The gaudy Light still dances in thy eye,
Thou hot and eager in the Chase
Art drawn through many a thorny rugged place,
Still languishing and sighing, but can'st ne're come nighe
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II
Give o're my Soul, give o're, nor strive againThis treacherous Chymic gold to find.
Tell me, why should'st thou fancy there remain
Days yet to come more sweet, than those thou'st left behind.
A wiser Chymist far than thou, t' obtain
This Jewel all his Treasures spent,
But yet he fail'd in's grand Experiment,
And all he gain'd was this, to know that all was vain.
III
Forbear, and at another's Cost be wise,Nor longer this Coy Mistress woo.
He's mad that runs where none can win the prize,
Why should'st thou lose thy Mistress and thy labour too?
Heaven does but sport with our Simplicity
By laying Jewels in our way,
For when we stoop to seize the glittering prey,
They'r snatch't away again, and baulk our greedy eye.
IV
'Tis so, the Choicest good this world can giveWill never stand Fruition's Test.
This all by experience find, yet few believe,
And in the midst of Cheats hope they shall once be blest.
Strange Magic this. So Witches tho they find
No Comfort from their airy meat,
Forget at next Cabal their slender treat,
And greedily again fall to their feast of Wind.
V
But thou my Soul thy strong Conviction shew,And never reach at Bliss again.
Our best good here is Nature's bounds to know
And those attempts to spare, which else would be in vain.
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In this inchanted place pursue.
And pity those shortsighted Souls that do;
This World is best enjoy'd, when 'tis best understood.
| A Collection of Miscellanies | |