A Collection of Poems on Various Subjects By Sir Richard Blackmore |
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An Expostulation with Damon,
complaining of his Narrow Fortune.
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 | A Collection of Poems on Various Subjects |  |
350
An Expostulation with Damon, complaining of his Narrow Fortune.
His Creatures and his Subjects, we should owne
Double Allegiance to th' Almighty's Throne
Our Place is to revere his Sov'reign Sway,
Not to dispute his Will, but to obey.
To Heav'n shall our Remonstrances be sent
To plead the Justice of their Discontent?
For Life and all Possessions, to his Hand
That scatters Blessings, we indebted stand.
What he is pleas'd to take, you should resign,
Nor can complain of Wrong, since nothing's thine
What if your Fortune's mean, did not the Best
And Wisest, who in Heav'n outshine the rest,
Live in this Vale of Tears, despis'd and poor?
Some wanted Food and Garments, few had more.
And should you quarrel with your Fate, when God
Afflicts, but to direct you with his Rod
In the known Path, which godlike Men have trod?
Toil and Fatigue a Trav'ller best become
Amidst his Foes, and far remote from Home.
Pilgrims, as we are, while Abroad they stay,
Must quit th' Ambition to be rich and gay.
This is a strange and hostile Country, where
Of Pomp, and Pow'r and Ease we must despair:
We only hence a Passage crave to Bliss,
And that, whate'er we loose, we cannot miss.
No Wants or Woes can make the Virtuous seem
Base or inglorious, in their Lord's Esteem;
Favour Divine they never can remove,
Nor interrupt the Pleasures of his Love;
And Happiness to those is yet unknown,
Who cannot find it in that Love alone.
Double Allegiance to th' Almighty's Throne
Our Place is to revere his Sov'reign Sway,
Not to dispute his Will, but to obey.
To Heav'n shall our Remonstrances be sent
To plead the Justice of their Discontent?
For Life and all Possessions, to his Hand
That scatters Blessings, we indebted stand.
What he is pleas'd to take, you should resign,
Nor can complain of Wrong, since nothing's thine
What if your Fortune's mean, did not the Best
And Wisest, who in Heav'n outshine the rest,
351
Some wanted Food and Garments, few had more.
And should you quarrel with your Fate, when God
Afflicts, but to direct you with his Rod
In the known Path, which godlike Men have trod?
Toil and Fatigue a Trav'ller best become
Amidst his Foes, and far remote from Home.
Pilgrims, as we are, while Abroad they stay,
Must quit th' Ambition to be rich and gay.
This is a strange and hostile Country, where
Of Pomp, and Pow'r and Ease we must despair:
We only hence a Passage crave to Bliss,
And that, whate'er we loose, we cannot miss.
No Wants or Woes can make the Virtuous seem
Base or inglorious, in their Lord's Esteem;
Favour Divine they never can remove,
Nor interrupt the Pleasures of his Love;
And Happiness to those is yet unknown,
Who cannot find it in that Love alone.
352
From Riches free you scape a Thousand Cares,
By Distance guarded from destructive Snares.
By a low State you kindly are deny'd
Th' alluring Baits of Luxury and Pride:
And weaker Virtue may be here secure,
Which Plenty's strong Assaults might not endure:
So little Vessels may in Safety ride
On a small River's smooth and peaceful Tide,
Where gentler Winds with soft and easy Gales
Scarce heave the Bosom of their humble Sails;
But if they put to Sea, too late they find
Their Strength unequal to a boist'rous Wind,
While thro' successive Dangers they are born
Split on the Rock, or by the Tempest torn.
Thus meaner Stations Virtue most befriend,
Giving what's fit, and more would but offend.
By Distance guarded from destructive Snares.
By a low State you kindly are deny'd
Th' alluring Baits of Luxury and Pride:
And weaker Virtue may be here secure,
Which Plenty's strong Assaults might not endure:
So little Vessels may in Safety ride
On a small River's smooth and peaceful Tide,
Where gentler Winds with soft and easy Gales
Scarce heave the Bosom of their humble Sails;
But if they put to Sea, too late they find
Their Strength unequal to a boist'rous Wind,
While thro' successive Dangers they are born
Split on the Rock, or by the Tempest torn.
Thus meaner Stations Virtue most befriend,
Giving what's fit, and more would but offend.
If now to Heav'n so painful is the Road,
What will it be with Wealth's encumbring Load?
Do your Endeavours now succeed so well,
And all Temptations with such Ease repel,
That your Ambition should a harder Task
Demand, and vast Herculean Labours ask?
That you with Care and Toil should purchase Foes,
And seek the Place, which thickest Danger shows:
Are those you cannot shun so few and slight,
That fond of Ruin you should more invite?
This were to ravish Death it self, and scale
The Gates of Hell, lest milder Arts should fail.
You aim at Heav'n, and will you chuse to stray,
And quit the plainest and the safest Way,
That you a longer Journey may endure,
Thro' Roads more difficult, and less secure?
Still narrow Fortunes are the safest found
Free from the Nets, which Wealth and Pomp surround:
The humble Valley needs but small Defence,
We justly dread the rising Eminence,
Where Sin and Death their chosen Forces post,
And Minds seduc'd are in such Numbers lost.
What will it be with Wealth's encumbring Load?
353
And all Temptations with such Ease repel,
That your Ambition should a harder Task
Demand, and vast Herculean Labours ask?
That you with Care and Toil should purchase Foes,
And seek the Place, which thickest Danger shows:
Are those you cannot shun so few and slight,
That fond of Ruin you should more invite?
This were to ravish Death it self, and scale
The Gates of Hell, lest milder Arts should fail.
You aim at Heav'n, and will you chuse to stray,
And quit the plainest and the safest Way,
That you a longer Journey may endure,
Thro' Roads more difficult, and less secure?
Still narrow Fortunes are the safest found
Free from the Nets, which Wealth and Pomp surround:
The humble Valley needs but small Defence,
We justly dread the rising Eminence,
Where Sin and Death their chosen Forces post,
And Minds seduc'd are in such Numbers lost.
354
The greatest Hazard that your Fear should move,
Is lest the World should too obliging prove;
For then she's dangerous, when her smiling Art,
And splendid Dress, invite the yielding Heart;
But when she frowns, her Charms are lost, unless
You Misery pursue, and court Distress.
For such Unkindness may abate your Love,
And turn your Aims to Happiness above;
Make you for high Eternal Joys inquire,
And Heav'n pursue with more enflam'd Desire:
For still our Wishes after Home and Rest,
Are by the Badness of the Way encreast.
Is lest the World should too obliging prove;
For then she's dangerous, when her smiling Art,
And splendid Dress, invite the yielding Heart;
But when she frowns, her Charms are lost, unless
You Misery pursue, and court Distress.
For such Unkindness may abate your Love,
And turn your Aims to Happiness above;
Make you for high Eternal Joys inquire,
And Heav'n pursue with more enflam'd Desire:
For still our Wishes after Home and Rest,
Are by the Badness of the Way encreast.
'Tis then because we disbelieve or slight
The Prize of Virtue, Heav'ns immense Delight,
That in an humble State we can't rejoyce,
And make nor Wealth, nor Poverty our Choice:
That Pomp and Plenty we so little dread,
So by the Living prais'd, and curs'd so by the Dead.
Assur'd of future Pleasures seek, no more,
Ask not soft Persia's Pride, nor Guinea's Oar,
So blest complain not that your Fortune's poor.
One of such Views possest, may well employ
His fleeting Hours in calm Delight and Joy,
Who, when a few short Days are past, will know
What Raptures from Celestial Triumphs flow,
Happy, if those who Heav'n enjoy, are so.
Why should you grieve for what you suffer here?
All these slight Sorrows soon will disappear,
And what is Transient, is below your Fear.
The Prize of Virtue, Heav'ns immense Delight,
That in an humble State we can't rejoyce,
And make nor Wealth, nor Poverty our Choice:
That Pomp and Plenty we so little dread,
So by the Living prais'd, and curs'd so by the Dead.
355
Ask not soft Persia's Pride, nor Guinea's Oar,
So blest complain not that your Fortune's poor.
One of such Views possest, may well employ
His fleeting Hours in calm Delight and Joy,
Who, when a few short Days are past, will know
What Raptures from Celestial Triumphs flow,
Happy, if those who Heav'n enjoy, are so.
Why should you grieve for what you suffer here?
All these slight Sorrows soon will disappear,
And what is Transient, is below your Fear.
| A Collection of Poems on Various Subjects | |