141
COWLEY.
141
"Thus, with Sapphira and her husband's fate
"(A fault which I, like them, am taught too late),
"For all that I gave up I nothing gain,
"And perish for the part which I retain.
"(A fault which I, like them, am taught too late),
"For all that I gave up I nothing gain,
"And perish for the part which I retain.
"Teach me not then, O thou fallacious Muse!
"The court, and better king, t' accuse;
"The heaven under which I live is fair,
"The fertile soil will a full harvest bear:
"Thine, thine is all the barrenness; if thou
"Mak'st me sit still and sing, when I should plough.
"When I but think how many a tedious year
"Our patient sovereign did attend
"His long misfortunes' fatal end;
"How cheerfully, and how exempt from fear,
"On the Great Sovereign's will he did depend;
"I ought to be accurst, if I refuse
"To wait on his, O thou fallacious Muse!
"Kings have long hands, they say; and, though I be
"So distant, they may reach at length to me.
"However, of all princes, thou
"Shouldst not reproach rewards for being small or slow;
"Thou! who rewardest but with popular breath,
"And that too after death."
"The court, and better king, t' accuse;
"The heaven under which I live is fair,
"The fertile soil will a full harvest bear:
"Thine, thine is all the barrenness; if thou
"Mak'st me sit still and sing, when I should plough.
"When I but think how many a tedious year
"Our patient sovereign did attend
"His long misfortunes' fatal end;
"How cheerfully, and how exempt from fear,
"On the Great Sovereign's will he did depend;
"I ought to be accurst, if I refuse
"To wait on his, O thou fallacious Muse!
"Kings have long hands, they say; and, though I be
"So distant, they may reach at length to me.
"However, of all princes, thou
"Shouldst not reproach rewards for being small or slow;
"Thou! who rewardest but with popular breath,
"And that too after death."
