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William Cowper - The Task: Book VI. -- The Winter Walk at NoonWilliam Cowper - The Task: Book VI. -- The Winter Walk at Noon
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The stamp and clear impression of good sense, And be not costly more than of true worth, He puts it on, and, for decorum sake, Can wear it e’en as gracefully as she. She judges of refinement by the eye, He by the test of conscience, and a heart Not soon deceived; aware that what is base No polish can make sterling; and that vice, Though well perfumed and elegantly dress’d, Like an unburied carcass trick’d with flowers Is but a garnish’d nuisance, fitter far For cleanly riddance than for fair attire. So life glides smoothly and by stealth away, More golden than that age of fabled gold Renown’d in ancient song; not vex’d with care Or stain’d with guilt, beneficent, approved Of God and man, and peaceful in its end. So glide my life away! and so, at last, My share of duties decently fulfill’d, May some disease, not tardy to perform Its destined office, yet with gentle stroke, Dismiss me weary to a safe retreat, Beneath the turf that I have often trod. It shall not grieve me then that once, when call’d To dress a Sofa with the flowers of verse, I play’d awhile, obedient to the fair, With that light task; but soon, to please her more, Whom flowers alone I knew would little please, Let fall the unfinish’d wreath, and roved for fruit; Roved far, and gather’d much: some harsh, ‘tis true, Pick’d from the thorns and briars of reproof, But wholesome, well-digested; grateful some To palates that can taste immortal truth; Insipid else, and sure to be despised. But all is in His hand, whose praise I seek. In vain the poet sings, and the world hears, If he regard not, though divine the theme. ‘Tis not in artful measures, in the chime And idle tinkling of a minstrel’s lyre, To charm His ear, whose eye is on the heart; Whose frown can disappoint the proudest strain, Whose approbation prosper even mine.
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