A Vote
A Vote
Original Text
Abraham Cowley, Poeticall blossomes, enlarged edn. (1636). STC 5908.
66Too low for envy, for contempt too high.
67 Some honour I would have,
68Not from great deeds, but good alone;
70 Rumour can ope the grave.
71Acquaintance I would hug, but when 't depends
72Not from the number, but the choice of friends.
73 Books should, not bus'ness, entertain the light,
74And sleep, as undisturb'd as death, the night.
75 My house a cottage, more
76Than palace, and should fitting be
77For all my use, no luxury.
78 My garden painted o'er
79With Nature's hand, not Art's, and pleasures yield
81 Thus would I double my life's fading space,
82For he that runs it well, twice runs his race.
83 And in this true delight,
84These unbought sports and happy state
85I would not fear, nor wish my fate,
86 But boldly say each night,
87To-morrow let my sun his beams display,
88Or in clouds hide them; I have liv'd to-day.
Notes
65] Republished, with the title "Of My Self," in Essays in Verse and Prose, 1668. Back to Line
69] ignote: unknown. Back to Line
80] Maecenas, Horace's patron, gave him a farm in the country surrounding Rome inhabited by the Sabine peoples. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1636
RPO poem Editors
N. J. Endicott
RPO Edition
2RP 1.450.
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