Let poets scrawl satirick rhymes And sketch the follies of the times With much caricaturing; But I, a bon-ton bard, declare A set of slanderers they are, E'en past a Job's enduring. Let crabbed cynicks snarl away And pious parsons preach and pray Against the vices reigning; That mankind are so wicked grown, Morality is scarcely known, And true religion waning. Societies, who vice suppress, May make a rumpus; ne'ertheless, @3Ours is the best of ages;@1 Such hum-drum folks our @3fathers@1 were, They could no more with @3us@1 compare Than Hottentots with sages. It puts the poet in a pet To think of @3them,@1 a vulgar set; But @3we,@1 thank God, are @3quality;@1 For we have found, this eighteenth century, What ne'er was known before, I'll venture ye,— @3Religion's no reality!@1 Tom Paine and Godwin both can tell That there is no such thing as hell!— A doctrine mighty pleasant; Your old-wives' tales of a @3hereafter@1 Are things for ridicule and laughter While we enjoy the @3present!@1 We've naught to do but frisk about At midnight ball and Sunday rout And Bacchanalian revel; To gamble, drink and live at ease, Our great and noble selves to please, Nor care for man nor devil. In these @3good@1 times, with little pains And scarce a penny-worth of brains A man, with great propriety— With some small risk of being hung— May cut a pretty dash among The foremost in society. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE OTHER SIDE OF A MIRROR by MARY ELIZABETH COLERIDGE ANSWER TO A CHILD'S QUESTION by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD WEST by THOMAS GRAY FRIENDSHIP [OR, THE TRUE FRIEND] by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE THE CENTENARIAN'S STORY by WALT WHITMAN |