RPO -- Ben Jonson : Epigrams: On my First Son

Ben Jonson (1572-1637)

Epigrams: On my First Son

1Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;

2My sin was too much hope of thee, lov'd boy.

3Seven years tho' wert lent to me, and I thee pay,

4Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.

5O, could I lose all father now! For why

6Will man lament the state he should envy?

7To have so soon 'scap'd world's and flesh's rage,

8And if no other misery, yet age?

9Rest in soft peace, and, ask'd, say, "Here doth lie

10Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry."

11For whose sake henceforth all his vows be such,

12As what he loves may never like too much.

Notes

1] The boy died of the plague in 1603, the same plague which delayed the coronation ceremonies of James I.
child of my right hand: i.e., the Hebrew Benjamin, which meant "fortunate" or "dexterous.''

3] lent: i.e., as a gift from heaven.

Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.

Original text: Ben Jonson, The workes of Benjamin Jonson (London: Will Stansby, 1616). STC 14751.
First publication date: 1616
RPO poem editor: F. D. Hoeniger
RP edition: 3RP 1.156.
Recent editing: 4:2002/4/3

Composition date: 1603
Form: Heroic Couplets

Other poems by Ben Jonson