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 | Poems on Affairs of State |  |
Now weigh them both, and tell me, if you can,
VVhich of the two seems the most prudent Man:
The Gamester swears both shou'd in Bethlem be,
That Fortune-monger, maddest of the three,
VVhose Life, whose Soul, whose very Heav'n is Play,
At which the Bubble throws them all away;
Who every moment waits his Destiny
From the uncertain running of a Die;
And, if he chance to lose, then how he stares!
Then how the Fury, with his bristled Hairs
Curses his Fate! Earth, hell, and Heaven defies,
And with Oaths heap'd on Oaths, he storms the Skies.
VVhich of the two seems the most prudent Man:
The Gamester swears both shou'd in Bethlem be,
That Fortune-monger, maddest of the three,
VVhose Life, whose Soul, whose very Heav'n is Play,
At which the Bubble throws them all away;
Who every moment waits his Destiny
From the uncertain running of a Die;
And, if he chance to lose, then how he stares!
Then how the Fury, with his bristled Hairs
Curses his Fate! Earth, hell, and Heaven defies,
And with Oaths heap'd on Oaths, he storms the Skies.
| Poems on Affairs of State | |