"A brother's warning on thy heart engrave"
— Crabbe, George (1754-1832)
Author
Work Title
Date
1819
Metaphor
"A brother's warning on thy heart engrave"
Metaphor in Context
"Then spoke the spirit--George, I pray, attend--
"'First, let all doubts of thy religion end--
"'The word reveal'd is true: enquire no more,
"'Believe in meekness, and with thanks adore:
"'Thy priest attend, but not in all rely,
"'And to objectors seek for no reply:
"'Truth, doubt, and error, will be mix'd below--
"'Be thou content the greater truths to know,
"'And in obedience rest thee--For thy life
"'Thou needest counsel--now a happy wife,
"'A widow soon! and then, my sister, then
"'Think not of marriage, think no more of men;--
"'Life will have comforts; thou wilt much enjoy
"'Of moderate good, then do not this destroy;
"'Fear much, and wed no more; by passion led,
"'Shouldst thou again'--Art thou attending?--'wed,
"'Care in thy ways will growl, and anguish haunt thy bed:
"'A brother's warning on thy heart engrave:
"'Thou art a mistress--then be not a slave!
"'Shouldst thou again that hand in fondness give,
"'What life of misery art thou doom'd to live!
"'How wilt thou weep, lament, implore, complain!
"'How wilt thou meet derision and disdain!
"'And pray to Heaven in doubt, and kneel to man in vain!
"'Thou read'st of woes to tender bosoms sent--
"'Thine shall with tenfold agony be rent;
"'Increase of anguish shall new years bestow,
"'Pain shall on thought and grief on reason grow,
"'And this th' advice I give increase the ill I show.'
"'First, let all doubts of thy religion end--
"'The word reveal'd is true: enquire no more,
"'Believe in meekness, and with thanks adore:
"'Thy priest attend, but not in all rely,
"'And to objectors seek for no reply:
"'Truth, doubt, and error, will be mix'd below--
"'Be thou content the greater truths to know,
"'And in obedience rest thee--For thy life
"'Thou needest counsel--now a happy wife,
"'A widow soon! and then, my sister, then
"'Think not of marriage, think no more of men;--
"'Life will have comforts; thou wilt much enjoy
"'Of moderate good, then do not this destroy;
"'Fear much, and wed no more; by passion led,
"'Shouldst thou again'--Art thou attending?--'wed,
"'Care in thy ways will growl, and anguish haunt thy bed:
"'A brother's warning on thy heart engrave:
"'Thou art a mistress--then be not a slave!
"'Shouldst thou again that hand in fondness give,
"'What life of misery art thou doom'd to live!
"'How wilt thou weep, lament, implore, complain!
"'How wilt thou meet derision and disdain!
"'And pray to Heaven in doubt, and kneel to man in vain!
"'Thou read'st of woes to tender bosoms sent--
"'Thine shall with tenfold agony be rent;
"'Increase of anguish shall new years bestow,
"'Pain shall on thought and grief on reason grow,
"'And this th' advice I give increase the ill I show.'
Categories
Provenance
Searching "heart" and "engrav" in HDIS (Poetry)
Date of Entry
03/08/2005
