 | Poems (1872) |  |
234
XXII. LOVE'S WAR.
Till I have peace with thee, warr other men;And when I haue peace, can I leave thee then?
All other warrs are scrupelous, only thou
A faire free cyttie, maist thy selfe allowe
To any one. In Flanders, who can tell
Whether the master 'press, or men rebell?
Onely we knowe, that which all ideots say,
They beare most blowes that come to part the fray.
France in her lunatique giddines did hate
Even our men, yea and our God of late;
Yet she relies vpon our angells well,
Which n'ere returne no more then they that fell.
Sicke Ireland is with a strange warr possesst,
Like to an ague, now raging, now at rest,
Which tyme will cure: yet it must doe her good
If she were purg'd, and her head-vaine let blood.
And Midas joyes, our Spanish jorneys give,
We touche all gold, but fynd no food to live.
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To dust and ashes turnd before my tyme.
To mewe me in a shipp is to inthrall
Me in a prisonn, that were like to fall;
Or in a cloister, save that there men dwell
In a calme Heav'n, here in a swayring Hell.
Long voiages are long consumptions,
And shipps are carts for executyons;
Yea, they are deaths: It is all one to flye
Into another world, as 'tis to die.
Heere let me warre, in these arms let me lye;
Here let me parley: better bleed then dye.
Thyne arms imprison mee, and myn arms thee;
Thy hart thy ransom is, take myne for mee.
Other men warr, that thay their rest may gaine,
But we will rest that we may fight againe.
Those warrs th'ignorant, these the experienct love;
There we are alwais vnder, heere aboue;
There engines farr of[f] breed a iust true feare;
Neere thrusts, pickes, stabbs, yea bullets, hurt not heere.
There lyes are wronges, here safe vprightly lye;
There men kill men, wee'le make one by and by.
Thou nothinge, I not halfe soe much to doe
In these warrs, as they may which from vs two
Shall springe. Thowsands we see which travail not
To warr, but stay, swords, arms, and shott
To make at home; and shall not I do then
More gloriovs service, staying to make men?
| Poems (1872) | |