John Milton. (1608–1674). Complete Poems.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
| |
| To Cyriack Skinner |
| |
| (1656) |
| |
| |
| CYRIACK, whose grandsire on the royal bench | |
| Of British Themis, with no mean applause, | |
| Pronounced, and in his volumes taught, our laws, | |
| Which others at their bar so often wrench, | |
| To-day deep thoughts resolve with me to drench | 5 |
| In mirth that after no repenting draws; | |
| Let Euclid rest, and Archimedes pause, | |
| And what the Swede intend, and what the French. | |
| To measure life learn thou betimes, and know | |
| Toward solid good what leads the nearest way; | 10 |
| For other things mild Heaven a time ordains, | |
| And disapproves that care, though wise in show, | |
| That with superfluous burden loads the day, | |
| And, when God sends a cheerful hour, refrains. | |
| |
|
|
|
