Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TO MR JOHN BURGES by BEN JONSON

Poet Analysis

First Line: WOULD GOD, MY BURGES, I COULD THINK
Last Line: BUT SCARLET-LIKE OUTLASTS THE CLOTH.

Would God, my Burges, I could think
Thoughts worthy of thy gift, this ink,
Then would I promise here to give
Verse, that should thee, and me outlive.
But since the wine hath steeped my brain,
I only can the paper stain;
Yet with a dye, that fears no moth,
But scarlet-like outlasts the cloth.



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