 | Poems on several occasions |  |
A FULL ANSWER:
AN ANSWER TO THE FOREGOING INVECTIVE.
“And God said, It is not good for man to be alone.”
I
Attend to verse with meaning good:Perhaps of dulness you'll accuse it;
And fancy, with conjecture shrewd,
For want of wit I do not use it.
II
No matter: smartness I despise,When serious is the theme or holy:
Better you to yourself seem wise,
Than I be partner of your folly.
III
Poetic faults I shall forbear,No doubtful sense to laughter wresting;
For jesting were in me unfair,
Who blame you seriously for jesting.
555
IV
Think you the Bible all a lie?If inspiration be not dreaming,
You shoot your bolts at the Most High;
And cursing wedlock is blaspheming.
V
“'Tis apt to raise forbidden flames;Care, discord, pain, despair to waken:”
Design'd by God for other aims;
Say, then, was Providence mistaken?
VI
That marriage hell on earth must prove,How vainly would Invective show us!
“Because unfit for souls above,
And mindless animals below us.
VII
“Nay, worse than endless flames 't will be,And add to hell itself new trouble:
Were Satan wedded to a she,
'T would render his damnation double.”
VIII
What madness 'tis, abroad to dealFirebrands and death on this occasion!
O may you never come to feel,
Eternity is in DAMNATION!
556
IX
Yet “truth in whores can never live:”Where would the rant your frenzy carry?
Pray, why should “soft desire” survive,
If men must neither whore nor marry?
X
What's whoredom? Loss of friends and fame;False calm, and real desperation;
Poor guiltless children born to shame;
And guilt and pain and salivation!
XI
Repent, renounce all wicked wit:Think not your pride I bear too hard on.
So may the world your flights forget,
And God forgive, and Willy pardon.
| Poems on several occasions | |