 | Poetical works (1908) |  |
Boetius. Libr. 3. Metr. 8.
When Ignorance leads fools (both blind) they stray.How should they hitt, or miss their end, or way?
We seek not grapes on thorns, on thistles figgs:
Who gathers pearls from Vines, or gold from twiggs?
He that would feast his guests with Lenten dishes,
Draggs not dry Mountains, nor thin Ayer fishes.
He that with Ven'son would his palate please,
Swims not his Hounds in Brooks, or hunts the Seas.
Tethis black Closets (hid with dark deep floods)
Men search, know, rifle, ransack all her goods.
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Where Coral grafts, where stores her purple shells:
They know her Markets, Fairs, where, when to buy
Each kind of Fish; where Crabs, where Lobsters lye;
But where that good, which makes man blessed, lyes,
They have no ears to hear, to see, no eyes.
On earth fools hunt, which far transcends the poles:
They tear, dig, delve, (oh are they men, or moles?)
What curse deserve such Bedlams? blindfold wretches
Tir'd let them still pursue their honours, riches,
And prest with false goods, give them eyes to view
The dross of false, the glory of the true.
| Poetical works (1908) | |