| Edward Farr, ed. Select Poetry of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth. 1845. | | | | Blessed Be the Mercifull: For They Shall Obtaine Mercy | | XXII. John Davies |
| |
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; | 5 |
| 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 | 10 |
| 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. | | | | |
|
|
