Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE MODERN SAINT by MATTHEW PRIOR

First Line: HER TIME WITH EQUAL PRUDENCE SILVIA SHARES
Last Line: AN ARTFUL WOMAN MAKES A MODERN SAINT.
Subject(s): LIFE; PRAYER; SAINTS; SIN;

HER time with equal prudence Silvia shares,
First writes a billet-doux, then says her prayers;
Her mass and toilet; vespers and the play;
Thus God and Ashtaroth divide the day.
Constant she keeps her Ember-week and Lent,
At Easter calls all Israel to her tent;
Loose without bawd, and pious without zeal,
She still repeats the sins she would conceal.
Envy herself from Silvia's life must grant,
An artful woman makes a modern saint.



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