DEAR Nan, I would not have thy counsel lost, Though I last night had twice so much been crost; Well is a passion to the market brought, When such a treasure of advice is bought With so much dross. And couldst thou me assure, Each vice of mine should meet with such a cure, I would sin oft, and on my guilty brow Wear every misperfection that I owe, Open and visible; I should not hide But bring my faults abroad: to hear thee chide In such a note, and with a quill so sage, It passion tunes, and calms a tempest's rage. Well, I am charm'd, and promise to redress What, without shrift, my follies do confess Against myself: wherefore let me entreat, When I fly out in that distemper'd heat Which frets me into fasts, thou wilt reprove That froward spleen in poetry and love: So though I lose my reason in such fits Thou'lt rhyme me back again into my wits. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE YOUNG WARRIOR by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON SPRING AND FALL: TO A YOUNG CHILD by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS A SHROPSHIRE LAD: 18 by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN SONNET: TO FANNY by JOHN KEATS SOMETIMES WITH ONE I LOVE by WALT WHITMAN LINES COMPOSED A FEW MILES ABOVE TINTERN ABBEY by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH |