Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TO KING CHARLES AND QUEEN MARY FOR LOSS OF THEIR FIRST-BORN by BEN JONSON

Poet Analysis

First Line: WHO DARES DENY, THAT ALL FIRST FRUITS ARE DUE
Last Line: CANNOT BUT HEAP THAT GRACE, HE WILL REQUIRE.
Subject(s): DEATH - CHILDREN; DEATH - BABIES;

Who dares deny, that all first fruits are due
To God, denies the God-head to be true:
Who doubts, those fruits God can with gain restore,
Doth, by his doubt, distrust his promise more.
He can, he will, and with large interest pay,
What (at his liking) he will take away.
Then royal Charles, and Mary, do not grutch
That the Almighty's will to you is such:
But thank his greatness, and his goodness too;
And think all still the best, that he will do.
That thought shall make, he will this loss supply
With a long, large, and blessed posterity!
For God, whose essence is so infinite,
Cannot but heap that grace, he will require.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net