Page:The Works of Abraham Cowley - volume 1 (ed. Aikin) (1806).djvu/262

"And ever since I strive in vain
"My ravish'd freedom to regain;
"Still I rebel, still thou dost reign;
"Lo! still in verse against thee I complain.
"There is a sort of stubborn weeds,
"Which, if the earth but once, it ever, breeds;
"No wholesome herb can near them thrive,
"No useful plant can keep alive:
$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$"The foolish sports I did on thee bestow,
"Make all my art and labour fruitless now;
"Where once such fairies dance, no grass doth ever grow.

"When my new mind had no infusion known,
"Thou gav'st so deep a tincture of thine own,
"That ever since I vainly try
"To wash away th' inherent dye:
Long work perhaps may spoil thy colours quite,
"But never will reduce the native white:
$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$"To all the ports of honour and of gain
"I often steer my course in vain;
"Thy gale comes cross, and drives me back again.
"Thou slacken'st all my nerves of industry,
"By making them so oft to be
"The tinkling strings of thy loose minstrelsy.
"Whoever this world's happiness would see,
"Must as entirely cast-off thee,
"As they who only heaven desire
"Do from the world retire.
"This was my error, this my gross mistake,
"Myself a demi-votary to make.