Poems and Songs by Thomas Flatman. The Fourth Edition with many Additions and Amendments |
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The Disappointed.
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 | Poems and Songs |  |
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The Disappointed.
Pindarique ODE.
Stanza I.
Oft have I ponder'd in my pensive heart,When even from my self I've stol'n away,
And heavily consider'd many a day,
The cause of all my anguish, and my smart:
Sometimes besides a shady grove,
(As dark as were my thoughts, as close as was my Love,)
Dejected have I walk'd alone,
Acquainting scarce my self with my own moan.
Once I resolv'd undauntedly to hear,
What 'twas my Passions had to say,
To find the reason of that uproar there,
And calmly, if I could, to end the fray:
No sooner was my resolution known
But I was all Confusion.
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Bloody Revenge, and most ignoble Fear,
Now altogether clamorous were;
My breast a perfect Chaos grown,
A mass of nameless things together hurl'd,
Like th' formless Embrio of the unborn world,
Just as it's rouzing from eternal night,
Before the great Creator said, Let there be Light.
II.
Thrice happy then are beasts, said I,That underneath these pleasant Coverts lie,
They only sleep, and eat, and drink,
They never meditate, nor think;
Or if they do, have not th' unhappy art.
To vent the overflowings of their heart;
They without trouble live, without disorder, die
Regardless of Eternity.
I said, I would like them be wise,
And not perplex my self in vain,
Nor bite th' uneasie Chain,
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And all th' ill-natur'd World despise:
But when I had reflected long,
And with deliberation thought
How few have practis'd, what they gravely taught
(Tho' 'tis but folly to complain)
I judg'd it worth a generous disdain,
And brave defiance in Pindarique Song.
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