As a decrepit father takes delight To see his active child do deeds of youth, So I, made lame by fortune's dearest spite, Take all my comfort of thy worth and truth. For whether beauty, birth, or wealth, or wit, Or any of these all, or all, or more, Entitled in thy parts do crowned sit, I make my love engrafted to this store: So then I am not lame, poor, nor despised, Whilst that this shadow doth such substance give That I in thy abundance am sufficed And by a part of all thy glory live. Look, what is best, that best I wish in thee: This wish I have; then ten times happy me! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...JOHANNA PEDERSEN by KAREN SWENSON AN EPITAPH ON A ROBIN REDBEAST by SAMUEL ROGERS A PRAYER by EDWARD ROWLAND SILL KNOWLEDGE by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH REFUGE by WILLIAM HERVEY ALLEN JR. TO THE CASTLE OF DONEGAL by WILLIAM ALLINGHAM NELL COOK; A LEGEND OF THE 'DARK ENTRY': THE KING'S SCHOLAR'S STORY by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM |