Henry Charles Beeching, ed. (1859–1919). Lyra Sacra: A Book of Religious Verse. 1903.
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FALSE 1 world, thou liest: thou canst not lend | |
The least delight: | |
Thy favours cannot gain a friend, | |
They are so slight: | |
Thy morning pleasures make an end | 5 |
To please at night: | |
Poor are the wants that thou supply’st; | |
And yet thou vaunt’st, and yet thou vy’st 2 | |
With heaven; fond earth, thou boast’st; false world, thou liest. | |
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Thy babbling tongue tells golden tales | 10 |
Of endless treasure: | |
Thy bounty offers easy sales | |
Of lasting pleasure; | |
Thou ask’st the conscience what she ails, | |
And swear’st to ease her: | 15 |
There’s none can want where thou supply’st, | |
There’s none can give where thou deny’st, | |
Alas! fond world, thou boast’st; false world, thou liest. | |
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What well advisèd ear regards | |
What earth can say? | 20 |
Thy words are gold, but thy rewards | |
Are painted clay: | |
Thy cunning can but pack the cards, | |
Thou canst not play: | |
Thy game at weakest, still thou vy’st; | 25 |
If seen, and then revy’d, deny’st; | |
Thou art not what thou seem’st; false world, thou liest. | |
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Thy tinsel bosom seems a mint | |
Of new-coin’d treasure; | |
A Paradise, that has no stint, | 30 |
No change, no measure; | |
A painted cask, but nothing in’t, | |
Nor wealth, nor pleasure; | |
Vain earth! that falsely thus comply’st | |
With man; vain man, that thou rely’st | 35 |
On earth; vain man, thou doat’st; vain earth, thou liest. | |
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What mean dull souls, in this high measure | |
To haberdash | |
In earth’s base wares, whose greatest treasure | |
Is dross and trash; | 40 |
The height of whose enchanting pleasure | |
Is but a flash? | |
Are these the goods that thou supply’st | |
Us mortals with? are these the high’st? | |
Can these bring cordial peace? False world, thou liest. | 45 |