The poems and translations of Sir Edward Sherburne (1616-1702) excluding Seneca and Manilius Introduced and Annotated by F. J. Van Beeck |
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And they laid him in a Manger.
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 | The poems and translations of Sir Edward Sherburne (1616-1702) |  |
And they laid him in a Manger.
Happy Cribb! that wert alone
To my God, Bed, Cradle, Throne,
VVhilst thy glorious vilenesse, I
View with divine Phant'sies Eye;
Sordid filth seems all the Cost,
State, and Splendour, Crowns doe boast.
To my God, Bed, Cradle, Throne,
VVhilst thy glorious vilenesse, I
View with divine Phant'sies Eye;
Sordid filth seems all the Cost,
State, and Splendour, Crowns doe boast.
See! Heaven's sacred Majesty
Humbled beneath Poverty.
Swadled up in homely Rags,
On a Bed of Straw and Flags.
He whose Hands the Heavens displayd,
And the VVorlds Foundations layd,
From the VVorld's almost exil'd,
Of all Ornaments despoyl'd.
Perfumes bath him not, new born,
Persian Mantles not adorn:
Nor do the rich Roofs look bright
VVith the Jaspers Orient Light.
Humbled beneath Poverty.
Swadled up in homely Rags,
On a Bed of Straw and Flags.
He whose Hands the Heavens displayd,
And the VVorlds Foundations layd,
From the VVorld's almost exil'd,
Of all Ornaments despoyl'd.
Perfumes bath him not, new born,
Persian Mantles not adorn:
Nor do the rich Roofs look bright
VVith the Jaspers Orient Light.
VVhere O Royall Infant! be
Th'Ensigns of thy Majestie?
Thy Sires equallizing State,
And thy Scepter that rules Fate?
VVhere's thy Angell-guarded Throne,
VVhence thy Laws thou didst make known?
Laws which Heaven, Earth, Hell obay'd;
These, ah these, aside he layd;
VVould the Emblem be, of Pride
By Humility outvy'd.
Th'Ensigns of thy Majestie?
Thy Sires equallizing State,
And thy Scepter that rules Fate?
VVhere's thy Angell-guarded Throne,
VVhence thy Laws thou didst make known?
Laws which Heaven, Earth, Hell obay'd;
These, ah these, aside he layd;
VVould the Emblem be, of Pride
By Humility outvy'd.
| The poems and translations of Sir Edward Sherburne (1616-1702) | |