Major Pack's Poetical Remains Published from his Original Manuscripts. To which are Added, translations from Catullus, Tibullus, and Ovid. With an Essay on the Roman elegiac poets, &c. [by Richardson Pack] |
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A SHORT REPLY TO A LONG SERMON
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 | Major Pack's Poetical Remains |  |
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A SHORT REPLY TO A LONG SERMON .
Aberdeen, October 25, 1728.
From your harsh Morals, Learned Sir, refrain;
Nor take the Name of Vanity in vain:
Too well my Suff'rings your Reflections prove;
Afflict not with Despair dejected Love:
Few and false Joys, and frequent real Pain,
Is what I know already, and complain.
Nor take the Name of Vanity in vain:
Too well my Suff'rings your Reflections prove;
Afflict not with Despair dejected Love:
Few and false Joys, and frequent real Pain,
Is what I know already, and complain.
If then an useful Convert you would make,
Preach to the Fair, and tell her for my Sake,
That Life's Transitory Dream soon past;
Bid her lay hold on each short Bliss in hast;
For Conquest only, let her not employ
Her pow'rful Charms but timely to enjoy:
E'en her sweet Face, that lovely Red and White,
Whose bare Idea fires me as I write;
Shall feel each fading Feature soon decay,
And sink at last to cold neglected Clay:
Then add what Cowley has so well exprest,
The Best itself, is but in Season Best.
Preach to the Fair, and tell her for my Sake,
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Bid her lay hold on each short Bliss in hast;
For Conquest only, let her not employ
Her pow'rful Charms but timely to enjoy:
E'en her sweet Face, that lovely Red and White,
Whose bare Idea fires me as I write;
Shall feel each fading Feature soon decay,
And sink at last to cold neglected Clay:
Then add what Cowley has so well exprest,
The Best itself, is but in Season Best.
R. P.
| Major Pack's Poetical Remains | |