Fruits of Retirement Or, Miscellaneous Poems, Moral and Divine. Being Some Contemplations, Letters, &c. Written on a Variety of Subjects and Occasions. By Mary Mollineux ... To which is Prefixed, Some Account of the Author |
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A Letter to a Friend.
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A Letter to a Friend.
Sometime this Query riseth in my Mind,Can Friends be to each other so unkind,
Thus to perplex, and yet not shew the Cause
Why Friendship should admit so long a Pause?
Hath Grandeur stupify'd thy fertile Quill,
Or Mammon metamorphos'd thus thy Will?
So Condescending formerly, and kind,
As if to Love and Friendship most inclin'd.
Methinks abundance of such outward Store
Should ne'er abridge our time, but gain us more.
Not that Wealth can add Number to our Days;
But Time (wherein the Indigent may raise
Some Stipend, to procure their daily Food)
Might be improv'd, as for a mutual Good,
By such as have obtain'd a full supply;
Or else wherein doth the advantage lie
Betwixt the Rich and Poor? Heaven still extends
Bread, to sustain each to their latter ends.
Then should not those, that greater Mercy share,
Some Time for Friendship's Priviledges spare?
But should my Grief by words be thus express'd?
I'll cease to write, and only Sigh the rest;
For since my Letters may not answer'd be,
I may conclude, that all is Vanity.
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