XXII. John Davies

(Matt. v. 7.)

WHAT wit hath man to leaue that wealth behind,

Which he might carry hence when hence he goes?

What almes he giues aliue, he, dead, doth find;

But what he leaues behind him, he doth lose.

To giue away then is to beare away;

They most do hold who haue the openest hands:

To hold too hard makes much the lesse to stay;

Though stay there may more then the hand commands.

The beggar’s belly is the batful’st ground

That we can sow in; for it multiplies

Our faith and hope, and makes our loue abound,

And what else grace and nature deerely prize:

So thus may kings be richer in their graue

Then on their thrones, though all the world they haue.