"I know full well you cannot steel / Your breast, against the pains I feel"
— Combe, William (1742 -1823)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by J. Diggens ... Published at R. Ackermann's Repository of Arts [etc.]
Date
1815
Metaphor
"I know full well you cannot steel / Your breast, against the pains I feel"
Metaphor in Context
"Thou jovial, noisy, pleasant wight,"
Replied th'exhilarated Knight,
"You never will your fancy balk,
Whenever you've the itch to talk;
Nor ever were you known to pass
In silence, your too frequent glass:
But well I know thy friendly heart,
How gen'rous, how devoid of art!
And though you rather stun my ears,
Your humour still my spirits cheers.
While you the plenteous goblets quaff,
And at my whims and fancies laugh,
I know full well you cannot steel
Your breast, against the pains I feel:
And much I wish your Life my Friend,
May not to draughts and doses tend:
For many a one may laugh to see
Tom melted down as thin as me.
E'er a few fleeting years are past,
He may to slip-slops come at last.
That you have laugh'd at me is true;
'Tis what you've long been us'd to do;
But younger folks may laugh at you."
Replied th'exhilarated Knight,
"You never will your fancy balk,
Whenever you've the itch to talk;
Nor ever were you known to pass
In silence, your too frequent glass:
But well I know thy friendly heart,
How gen'rous, how devoid of art!
And though you rather stun my ears,
Your humour still my spirits cheers.
While you the plenteous goblets quaff,
And at my whims and fancies laugh,
I know full well you cannot steel
Your breast, against the pains I feel:
And much I wish your Life my Friend,
May not to draughts and doses tend:
For many a one may laugh to see
Tom melted down as thin as me.
E'er a few fleeting years are past,
He may to slip-slops come at last.
That you have laugh'd at me is true;
'Tis what you've long been us'd to do;
But younger folks may laugh at you."
Categories
Provenance
Searching "breast" and "steel" in HDIS (Poetry)
Date of Entry
06/13/2005
