The Modern Dunciad Virgil in London and Other Poems [by George Daniel] |
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THE BEGGAR'S PETITION. |
 | The Modern Dunciad |  |
309
THE BEGGAR'S PETITION.
There is a debt we all must pay,
The sooner it is paid the better;
Come, tyrant Death, why this delay?
I wish not to remain thy debtor.
The sooner it is paid the better;
Come, tyrant Death, why this delay?
I wish not to remain thy debtor.
Some ask a year, a month, an hour;
Nay, some implore a moment's credit!
And though, like them, I know thy pow'r,
Come when it will, I do not dread it.
Nay, some implore a moment's credit!
And though, like them, I know thy pow'r,
Come when it will, I do not dread it.
Nor houses, lands, nor gold have I,—
Let Fortune, jade! say why, and wherefore;
Then what have I to do but die?
With nothing left on earth to care for.
Let Fortune, jade! say why, and wherefore;
Then what have I to do but die?
With nothing left on earth to care for.
Life is a feast—a strange one too!
To fare but poorly I've been able;
Yet seen enough to pall my view—
So let me now retire from table.
To fare but poorly I've been able;
Yet seen enough to pall my view—
So let me now retire from table.
310
If twenty years I've still on earth
T' exist, for I'm a young beginner;
Give ten to that gay son of mirth,
And ten to yon old trembling sinner!
T' exist, for I'm a young beginner;
Give ten to that gay son of mirth,
And ten to yon old trembling sinner!
I value not this boon of life,
Its boasted joys are all a bubble:
Youth is a scene of envy, strife,
And age of av'rice, toil, and trouble.
Its boasted joys are all a bubble:
Youth is a scene of envy, strife,
And age of av'rice, toil, and trouble.
| The Modern Dunciad | |