ON MY FIRST SON
by: Ben Jonson (1572-1637)
- AREWELL,
thou child of my right hand, and joy,
- My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy;
- Seven years th' wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
- Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.
- O, I could lose all father now. For why
- Will man lament the state he should envy?
- To have so soon 'scaped world's and flesh's rage,
- And, if no other misery, yet age?
- Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say here doth lie
- Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry;
- For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such
- As what he loves may never like too much.
"On My First Son" is reprinted
from Epigrams (1616). |
MORE
POEMS BY BEN JONSON |
|