Читать книгу Come Hither: A Collection of Rhymes and Poems for the Young of All Ages онлайн

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O worm in happy case!

Which of us two is best?

I that have reason? No:

But thou that reason art without,

And therefore void of woe.

I live, and so dost thou:

But I live all in pain,

And subject am to one, alas!

That makes my grief her gain.

Thou livest, but feel'st no grief;

No love doth thee torment.

A happy thing for me it were

(If God were so content)

That thou with pen were placèd here,

And I sat in thy place:

Then I should joy as thou dost now,

And thou should'st wail thy case.

Barnabe Googe

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Riding through Ruwu swamp, about sunrise,

I saw the world awake; and as the ray

Touched the tall grasses where they sleeping lay,

Lo, the bright air alive with dragonflies:

With brittle wings aquiver, and great eyes

Piloting crimson bodies, slender and gay.

I aimed at one, and struck it, and it lay

Broken and lifeless, with fast-fading dyes ...

Then my soul sickened with a sudden pain

And horror, at my own careless cruelty,

That in an idle moment I had slain

A creature whose sweet life it is to fly: