The Amaranth Or, religious poems; consisting of fables, visions, emblems, etc. Adorned with copper-plates from the best masters [by Walter Harte] |
 |
|
PARABLE. |
|
|
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 6. |
| 7. |
| 8. |
| 9. |
| 10. |
| 11. |
| 12. |
| 13. |
| 14. |
| 15. |
| 16. |
| 17. |
| 18. |
| 19. |
| 19. |
| 20. |
| 21. |
| 22. |
| 23. |
| 24. |
| 25. |
| 26. |
| 27. |
| 28. |
| 29. |
| 30. |
| 31. |
| 32. |
| 33. |
| 34. |
| 35. |
| 36. |
|
|
|
 | The Amaranth |  |
PARABLE.
When vernal show'rs and sunshine had unbound
The frozen bosom of the torpid ground,
When breezes from the western world repair
To wake the flow'rs and vivify the air,
Th'industrious peasant left his early bed,
And o'er the fields his seeds for harvest spread.
With equal hand, and at a distance due,
(Impartially to ev'ry furrow true)
The life-supporting grain he justly threw .
As was the culture, such was the return;
Of weeds a forest, or a grove of corn .
But, where he dealt the gift on grateful soils,
Harvests of industry o'er-paid his toils.
The frozen bosom of the torpid ground,
When breezes from the western world repair
To wake the flow'rs and vivify the air,
Th'industrious peasant left his early bed,
And o'er the fields his seeds for harvest spread.
With equal hand, and at a distance due,
(Impartially to ev'ry furrow true)
The life-supporting grain he justly threw .
6
Of weeds a forest, or a grove of corn .
But, where he dealt the gift on grateful soils,
Harvests of industry o'er-paid his toils.
Some seeds by chance on brashy
grounds he threw,
And some the winds to flinty head-lands blew:
Sudden they mounted, pre-mature of birth,
But pin'd and sicken'd, unsupply'd with earth:
Whilst burning suns their vital juice exhal'd,
And, as the roots decay'd, the foliage fail'd.
And some the winds to flinty head-lands blew:
Sudden they mounted, pre-mature of birth,
But pin'd and sicken'd, unsupply'd with earth:
Whilst burning suns their vital juice exhal'd,
And, as the roots decay'd, the foliage fail'd.
Some seeds he ventur'd on ungrateful lands,
Tough churlish clays, and loose unthrifty sands;
The step-dame soil refus'd a nurse's care:
The plants were sickly, juiceless, pale, and bare.
Tough churlish clays, and loose unthrifty sands;
The step-dame soil refus'd a nurse's care:
The plants were sickly, juiceless, pale, and bare.
7
On trodden paths a casual portion fell:
Condemn'd in scanty penury to dwell,
And half-deny'd the matrix of a cell;
While other seeds, less fortunate than they,
Slept—starv'd and naked on the hard high-way,
From frosts defenceless, and to birds a prey.
Here daws with riotous excesses feed,
And choughs, the cormorants of grain, succeed;
Next wily pigeons take their silent stand,
And sparrows last, the gleaners of the land.
Condemn'd in scanty penury to dwell,
And half-deny'd the matrix of a cell;
While other seeds, less fortunate than they,
Slept—starv'd and naked on the hard high-way,
From frosts defenceless, and to birds a prey.
Here daws with riotous excesses feed,
And choughs, the cormorants of grain, succeed;
Next wily pigeons take their silent stand,
And sparrows last, the gleaners of the land.
Another portion mock'd the seedsman's toil,
Dispens'd upon a rich, but weedy soil:
Fat unctuous juices gorg'd the rank-fed root;
And plethories of sap produc'd no fruit.
Hence, where the life-supplying grain was spread,
The rav'nous dock uprears its miscreant-head;
Insatiate thistles, tyrants of the plains;
And lurid hemlock, ting'd with pois'nous stains.
What these might spare, th'incroaching thorns demand;
Exhaust earth's virtue, and perplex the land .
Dispens'd upon a rich, but weedy soil:
Fat unctuous juices gorg'd the rank-fed root;
And plethories of sap produc'd no fruit.
Hence, where the life-supplying grain was spread,
The rav'nous dock uprears its miscreant-head;
Insatiate thistles, tyrants of the plains;
And lurid hemlock, ting'd with pois'nous stains.
8
Exhaust earth's virtue, and perplex the land .
At last, of precious grain a chosen share
Was sown on pre-dilected land with care:
[A cultur'd spot, accustom'd to receive
All previous aids that industry can give;]
The well-turn'd soil with auburn brightness shone,
Mellow'd with nitrous air and genial sun:
An harmony of mold, by nature mixt!
Not light as air, nor as a cement fix'd:
Just firm enough t'embrace the thriving root,
Yet give free expanse to the fibrous shoot;
Dilating, when disturb'd by lab'ring hands,
And smelling sweet, when show'rs refresh the lands.
Scarce could the reapers' arms the sheaves contain,
And the full garners swell'd with golden grain;
[Unlike the harvests of degen'rate days,]
One omer sown, one hundred-fold repays:
Rich product, to a bountiful excess;—
Nor ought we more to ask, nor more possess!
The harvest overcomes the reapers' toil:
So feeble is the hind, so strong the soil .
Was sown on pre-dilected land with care:
[A cultur'd spot, accustom'd to receive
All previous aids that industry can give;]
The well-turn'd soil with auburn brightness shone,
Mellow'd with nitrous air and genial sun:
An harmony of mold, by nature mixt!
Not light as air, nor as a cement fix'd:
Just firm enough t'embrace the thriving root,
Yet give free expanse to the fibrous shoot;
Dilating, when disturb'd by lab'ring hands,
And smelling sweet, when show'rs refresh the lands.
Scarce could the reapers' arms the sheaves contain,
And the full garners swell'd with golden grain;
[Unlike the harvests of degen'rate days,]
One omer sown, one hundred-fold repays:
9
Nor ought we more to ask, nor more possess!
The harvest overcomes the reapers' toil:
So feeble is the hind, so strong the soil .
Man's Saviour thus his Parable express'd:
He that hath ears to hear, may feel the rest.
He that hath ears to hear, may feel the rest.
“Bless God, who hath given thee the two Denarii, namely, the Law and the Gospel, in recompense for thy submission and labour.” Chrysost. Hom. in Luc. C. 10.
They that fear the Lord are a sure seed, and they that love him an honourable plant: They that regard not the law, are a dishonourable seed: they that transgress the commandments, are a deceivable seed. Ecclus. C. x, V. 19.
| The Amaranth | |