 | Miscellaneous works of George Wither |  |
Another Meditation relating to the Authors present Condition.
1
My Foes, you have your hearts desire,a spoyle of me you make;
And (as I hear) you now inquire
What Course I mean to take.
I now am brought so low, you say,
So destitute and poor,
That well assure your selves you may
I shall arise no more.
2
You, naytheless may be deceiv'd,and of your aims have mist;
For, in those things which are bereav'd,
My wealth doth not consist:
And I have that within my view
Which if pursude it be,
May make me as much laugh at you,
as you now laugh at me.
3
But, though it makes you to be gladto see my griefs encreast,
I have for some of you been sad
when you were less opprest.
And if you shall goe forward still
in doing causless wrong,
I, who now at your Folly smile,
may weep for you ere long.
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4
The greatest harm I wish my Foeswhen me most wronged have,
Is, that themselves they may not lose
by what they seek to save.
And when that they shall come to try
what they have brought me to,
That they nought else may lose thereby
but what would them undo.
5
Man liveth not by Bread alone,and that (should it be told)
Which now my life depends upon
your eyes cannot behold.
You robb'd me of External Things,
But what the worse am I,
If I have in me Living Springs
that never will be dry?
6
From that, which you debar me from,me, long you cannot keep;
My Noon is past, my Night is come,
and I shall shortly sleep.
At first, to Wither I was born
(though then a springing Tree)
And now my Leaves away are torn,
I can but Wither'd be.
7
The Birds do live, the Lilies grow,and are well cloath'd and fed;
Yet can nor spin, nor plow, nor sow,
to get them Cloathes and Bread:
I, therefore am without despair,
that he who cloathes the Grass,
105
will heed my present Case.
8
But if my Lot reserve she shalluntill another Life,
The worst that can to me befal,
VVill bring more Joy then Grief:
As Nightingales in summer do,
I'll sing all Night and Day;
And so shall in a month or two,
Sing Care and Life away.
| Miscellaneous works of George Wither | |