@3Merlin@1, they say, an English Prophet borne, When he was young and governed by his Mother, Took great delight to laugh such fools to scorn As thought, by Nature we might know a Brother. His Mother chid him oft, till on a day, They stood, and saw a Coarse to burial carried, The Father tears his beard, doth weep and pray; The Mother was the woman he had married. Merlin laughs out aloud instead of crying; His Mother chides him for that childish fashion; Says, Men must mourn the dead, themselves are dying, @3Good manners doth make answer unto passion.@1 The Child (for children see what should be hidden) Replies unto his Mother by and by, "Mother, if you did not know, and were forbidden, Yet you would laugh as heartily, as I." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AT DOVER CLIFFS, JULY 20, 1787 by WILLIAM LISLE BOWLES THE WILD GAZELLE by GEORGE GORDON BYRON A FORSAKEN GARDEN by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE AT BAY RIDGE, LONG ISLAND by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH HOMAGE TO QUINTUS SEPTIMIUS FLORENTIS CHRISTIANUS (1) by ANYTE |