The Works of the Reverend and Learned Isaac Watts, D. D. Containing, besides his Sermons, and Essays on miscellaneous subjects, several additional pieces, Selected from his Manuscripts by the Rev. Dr. Jennings, and the Rev. Dr. Doddridge, in 1753: to which are prefixed, memoirs of the life of the author, compiled by the Rev. George Burder. In six volumes |
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The Afflictions of a Friend.
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The Works of the Reverend and Learned Isaac Watts, D. D. | ||
The Afflictions of a Friend.
1702.
I
Now let my cares all bury'd lie,My griefs for ever dumb:
Your sorrows swell my heart so high,
They leave my own no room.
II
Sickness and pains are quite forgot,The spleen itself is gone;
Plung'd in your woes I feel them not,
Or feel them all in one.
III
Infinite grief puts sense to flight,And all the soul invades:
So the broad gloom of spreading night
Devours the evening shades.
IV
Thus am I born to be unblest!This sympathy of woe
Drives my own tyrants from my breast
T'admit a foreign foe.
V
Sorrows in long succession reign;Their iron rod I feel:
Friendship has only chang'd the chain,
But I'm the pris'ner still.
VI
Why was this life for misery made?Or why drawn out so long?
Is there no room amongst the dead?
Or is a wretch too young?
VII
Move faster on, great nature's wheel,Be kind, ye rolling pow'rs,
Hurl my days headlong down the hill
With undistinguish'd hours.
VIII
Be dusky, all my rising suns,Nor smile upon a slave:
Darkness, and death, make haste at once
To hide me in the grave.
The Works of the Reverend and Learned Isaac Watts, D. D. | ||