I HEARD two neighbours talk the other night About this new distemper-giving plan, Which some—so wrong, and others think—so right; Short was the dialogue, and thus it ran,— "If I had twenty children of my own, "I would inoculate them ev'ry one." @3Ay, but should any of them die, what moan Would then be made for venturing thereupon!@1 "No; I should think that I had done the best, "And be resign'd whatever should befall." @3But could you really be so quite at rest?@1 "I could."—@3Then why inoculate at all, Since to resign a child to God, who gave, Is full as easy and as just a part When sick and led by nature to the grave, As when in health to drive it there by art?@1 | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE INQUEST by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES THE WILD HONEYSUCKLE by PHILIP FRENEAU MEMORY AND HOPE by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING FIRST MATERNITY by KATHARINE BROWN BURT HIS MOTHER'S JOY by JOHN WHITE CHADWICK THE WINE OF LOVE by GEORGE HERBERT CLARKE OUT OF THE SHADOWS: AN UNFINISHED SONNET-SEQUENCE 3 by JOSEPH SEAMON COTTER JR. |