Short Poems

Oft ye me aske, whome my sweet faire can be?
Looke in this christal and ye sal her see;
At least some schade of her it wil impart,
For sche no trew glasse hath excep my hart.
Ah! that my brest war made of christal faire,
That she might see her livelie portrait there.

Waller was noble, rich, polite, and young:
Yet Sidney slighted him, because he sung:
To small Success in Love great Wits are born;
Superiour Worth when did not Woman scorn?

Oft Jove , they say, descended from above,
And to his Arms receiv'd some mortal Love:
Once let his Godship's Rule inverted be;
Let mortal Arms enclose Divinity.

Sue oft' had complain'd to young Thomas before,
Of kicking her Ankles, and making them sore.
When Tom took Occasion one Day to intrude
So far, that in earnest she told him 'twas rude —
Tush, tush, cry'd the Swain, prithee, don't be faint hearted:
All Things that are quarrelsome, Sue , should be parted.

A bishop preached Sunday on Dives forsaken:
How he was cast out and Lazarus taken;
The very next day he rejoiced he was able
To dine that evening at Dives' table.
While wretched Lazarus, sick and poor,
Was called an impostor and turned from the door.

A sparrow sang on a weed,
Sprung from an upturned sod,
And no one gave him heed
Or heard the song, save God.

The parliament lordes haue sitten twice fiue weekes,
Yet will not leave their stooles, knit up their breekes;
Winter is come, dysenteryes prevaile:
Rise, fooles, and with this paper wype your taile.

The Son.

Behind our cottage you have seen
Two oaks that spread their branches green,
Their verdant heads uprear:
But have you seen, those trees between,
A maid, with eyes of dazzling sheen,
Waxing in beauty there?

Old Abe Lincoln came out of the wilderness,
Out of the wilderness, out of the wilderness,
Old Abe Lincoln came out of the wilderness,
Down in Illinois.

Here Rixus lies, a novice in the laws,
Who plains he came to hell without a cause,