I. WHEN Horace in Vendusian groves Was scribbling with or sipping "Massic," Or singing those delicious loves Which after ages reckon classic, He wrote one day -- 't was no vagary -- These famous words: -- Nil admirari! II. "Wonder at nothing!" said the bard; A kingdom's fall, a nation's rising, A lucky or a losing card, Are really not at all surprising; However men or manners vary, Keep cool and calm; Nil admirari! III. If kindness meet a cold return; If friendship prove a dear delusion; If love, neglected, cease to burn, Or die untimely of profusion, -- Such lessons well may make us wary, But need n't shock; Nil admirari! IV. Does disappointment follow gain? Or wealth elude the keen pursuer? Does pleasure end in poignant pain? Does fame disgust the lucky wooer, Or haply prove perversely chary? 'T was ever thus; Nil admirari! V. Does January wed with May, Or ugliness consort with beauty? Does Piety forget to pray? And, heedless of connubial duty, Leave faithful Ann for wanton Mary? 'T is the old tale; Nil admirari! VI. Ah! when the happy day we reach When promisers are ne'er deceivers; When parsons practice what they preach, And seeming saints are all believers, Then the old maxim you may vary, And say no more, Nil admirari! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...APPARENT FAILURE by ROBERT BROWNING STANZAS FOR MUSIC (2) by GEORGE GORDON BYRON THE WAKING YEAR by EMILY DICKINSON WHEN HE WOULD HAVE HIS VERSES READ by ROBERT HERRICK SONNET WRITTEN IN THE FALL OF 1914: 4 by GEORGE EDWARD WOODBERRY THAT GENERAL UTILITY RAG, BY OUR OWN IRVING BERLIN by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS |