 | A New Year's Eve, and Other Poems |  |
182
SONNET
TO W. H. BROOKE, ESQ.
Thou hast a graceful pencil, ready pen,A lively fancy, and from classic hoards
Canst bring rich store of fitly spoken words;
Such gifts, abused by ill-designing men,
(I leave to history, how, and where, and when,)
Have been as baneful as bad council-boards,
The bulls of popes, or warriors' conqu'ring swords:
Heaven grant they ne'er may prove such pests again!
But thou, my friend, so honourest the worth
Of painting and of song, that used by thee,
These are admired as they were wont to be
Ere hearts were wedded to this sordid earth;
Or in the limits of becoming mirth,
Thy gifts but prove a source of harmless glee.
| A New Year's Eve, and Other Poems | |