Poems and Songs by Thomas Flatman. The Fourth Edition with many Additions and Amendments |
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The Desperate Lover.
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 | Poems and Songs |  |
The Desperate Lover.
I
O Mighty King of Terrors, come!Command thy Slave to his long home:
Great Sanctuary, Grave! to thee
In throngs the miserable flie;
Encircled in thy frozen arms,
They bid defiance to their harms,
Regardless of those pond'rous little things,
That discompose th' uneasie heads of Kings.
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II
In the cold Earth the Pris'ner liesRansom'd from all his miseries,
Himself forgotten, he forgets
His cruel Creditors, and Debts;
And there in everlasting peace
Contentions with their Authors cease.
A Turf of Grass or Monument of Stone
Umpires the petty Competition.
III
The disappointed Lover there,Breaths not a sigh, nor sheds a tear;
With us (fond fools) he never shares
In sad perplexities and cares;
The Willow near his Tomb that grows
Revives his Memory, not his Woes;
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Th' affronts of Heaven, and stratagems of Love.
IV
Then, mighty King of Terrors, come,Command thy Slave to his long home.
And thou, my Friend, that lov'st me best,
Seal up these eyes that brake my rest;
Put out the Lights, bespeak my Knell,
And then eternally farewel.
'Tis all th' amends our wretched Fates can give,
That none can force a desperate man to Live.
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