English

AS HEPHEARDS youth dwelt on the plaines,
That passt the common sort of Swaines,
By how much had himselfe before
Beene nursed up in Colins lore;
Who, while his flocke, ybent to stray,
Glad of the Sunne-shine of the day,
Wandered the field, and were abroade dispers'd,
He tooke his Pipe and sate him downe and vers'd.

Chloris, we see the offended gods
At first do show and shake their rods,
That they may rather threat, then strike,
So we forego what they dislike.
These faulty streams shall flow no more
Above their banks, as heretofore:
Nor swelling tempest from my breast
Henceforth thy virgin cares molest.
All shall be fashioned to thy will,
So thou wilt let me love thee still:
My lips shall not a word let go,
That may offend to tell thee so:
But to dissemble, or deny
That I do love thee were a lie

God's sovereign dominion over his creatures.

Say, in what creature's debt am I,
That as injur'd can whine?
For what's beneath and 'bove the sky
Is all and wholly mine.

Ev'n brutal hosts spread my report,
From smallest mites and snails,
To monsters of the biggest sort,
The crocodiles and whales.

My sole dominion, sov'reign power,
I'll further yet display,

If God in fetters of distress
His favour'd people bind;
If heavy loads of grief oppress
Their body or their mind:

He means to shew to them their sin,
In thought, in word, and deed;
How they to excess did therein
All boundaries exceed.

He hereby causes them betimes,
With penitence, reflect
On all their base unkindly crimes,
His kindly hands correct.

SECTION I .

Sickness come to an extremity; or a sick man brought to the gates of death.

In mercy does the mighty God,
Man for his sins chastise,
When he, t' instruct him by the rod,
Disturbs his bed of ease.

Sore sicknesses, God's host array'd,
The strongest man assail;
Sharp pains his num'rous bones invade,
And o'er their strength prevail.

Hid poison does his vigour waste,

SECTION I .

Chastity exemplified; and Whoremongers and Adulterers judged.

A sacred league I with mine eyes
Have made that they may ne'er
On fruit forbidden look nor gaze,
However charming fair.

That they, on beauty fondly prone,
May not attentive stay,
To be enchanted: nor upon
The brink of ruin play.

Ne'er did, on wanton objects bent,

SECTION I .

Honour turned to Contempt.

These now, that younger are than I,
Do me deride and mock,
Whose fathers never were so high
As shepherds of my flock.

This trust to them I scorn'd to give,
My num'rous herds to keep;
Nor with my dogs could grant them leave
To sit and guard my sheep.

For vicious, vile, and base they were,
Old beggars through the street;

Man frail and filthy, the Object of Divine Pity.

Frail man, as soon as born, decays,
Like flow'rs, that quickly fade;
He counts a few and troublous days,
Then passes like a shade.

Will God regard so base a wight
Contend with such a moth,
The spawn of hell, an ugly sight,
So frail and filthy both!

Who can clean things from unclean bring,
Pure streams from impure mud,

SECTION I .

Man mortal and impure.

Shall mortal man, a tainted clod,
Boast righteousness divine;
Or think he can his maker, God,
In purity outshine?

Behold! no trust is put by him,
In yonder glorious race
Of bright immortal seraphim,
That stand before his face.

Of folly comp'rative can he
His purest angels blame,
Who, plung'd in his infinity,

See , see a metamorphosis,
The late gray field now verdant is.
The sun with warm beams glads the earth,
And to the springing flowers
He gives a new and lively birth
By th'aid of gentle showers.
The lambs no longer bleat for cold,
Nor cry for succor from the old:
But frisk and play with confidence
Like emblems of true innocence.

Chorus.

The cheerful birds their voices strain,
The cuckoo's hoarse for want of rain.
The nightingale doth sweetly sing,