English Poetry II: From Collins to Fitzgerald.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.
Samuel Johnson
307. A Satire
L
Ling’ring year, at length is flown;
Pride and pleasure, pomp and plenty,
Great (Sir John), are now your own.
Free to mortgage or to sell,
Wild as wind, and light as feather,
Bid the sons of thrift farewell.
All the names that banish care;
Lavish of your grandsire’s guineas,
Show the spirits of an heir.
Joy to see their quarry fly;
There the gamester, light and jolly,
There the lender, grave and sly.
Let it wander as it will;
Call the jockey, call the pander,
Bid them come and take their fill.
Pockets full, and spirits high—
What are acres? What are houses?
Only dirt, or wet or dry.
Tell the woes of wilful waste,
Scorn their counsel, scorn their pother,—
You can hang or drown at last!